I am still working on the maintain gait at trot whilst doing a figure 8 pattern. Filly is good at trot on the straight section but breaks gait to a walk around the corners. Not always, but sometimes. I have been puzzling out how to prevent this for a while. Larrisa got me working on her "follow a feel" in zone one. Put simply this means that when I apply pressure on the lead rope to ask for a change of direction she should follow the feel and smoothly turn in the direction of the pressure. She fairly readily changed direction but the break of gait showed a hesitation as she came around the corner. This suggested that whilst she was physically complying she was mentally resisting the feel. Applying more pressure and releasing as she resumed trot was a technique I had been trying but if anything this just increased the resistance and tendency to break gait.
Following on from the maxim "If you always do what you have always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" I needed a change of tack. Then yesterday I remembered the David Lichman clinic Ritchie and I had attended a while back. He was getting the participants to use the "Boomerang" pattern to improve the feel in zone 1 and the draw. This is a simple pattern and involves sending the horse out on a circle around an obstacle (I used a barrel) and once around the barrel drawing the horse towards you for a treat. The horse rapidly figures that all they have to do is go out and around the barrel then come back to get a rest and a carrot so they put effort into it. This is then done on both reins to equalise out the direction of turn. Once consistent you can ask for the turn to be around both barrels.
Filly caught onto this game very quickly and with my supply of carrot pieces fast running out we managed an entire figure 8 at trot ! So simple, yet it had taken me so long to find the answer. This pattern is just a breakdown of elements of the figure 8 pattern with a specific place for a reward on each lap. Now "all" we need to do is extend the length of the pattern before a reward is forthcoming to get nice figure 8 patterns at the desired gait. I want to build this up to canter eventually such that Filly is doing a flying lead change on each lap as she changes direction around the barrels. She is going to be a race horse but I want to give her the skills needed for life after racing. Who knows they may serve her well on the race track as well.
Following on from the maxim "If you always do what you have always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten" I needed a change of tack. Then yesterday I remembered the David Lichman clinic Ritchie and I had attended a while back. He was getting the participants to use the "Boomerang" pattern to improve the feel in zone 1 and the draw. This is a simple pattern and involves sending the horse out on a circle around an obstacle (I used a barrel) and once around the barrel drawing the horse towards you for a treat. The horse rapidly figures that all they have to do is go out and around the barrel then come back to get a rest and a carrot so they put effort into it. This is then done on both reins to equalise out the direction of turn. Once consistent you can ask for the turn to be around both barrels.
Filly caught onto this game very quickly and with my supply of carrot pieces fast running out we managed an entire figure 8 at trot ! So simple, yet it had taken me so long to find the answer. This pattern is just a breakdown of elements of the figure 8 pattern with a specific place for a reward on each lap. Now "all" we need to do is extend the length of the pattern before a reward is forthcoming to get nice figure 8 patterns at the desired gait. I want to build this up to canter eventually such that Filly is doing a flying lead change on each lap as she changes direction around the barrels. She is going to be a race horse but I want to give her the skills needed for life after racing. Who knows they may serve her well on the race track as well.
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