[Monthly Review] January 2014

This month has both seemed long yet seemed to have also flown by! Crazy! Pea had an easy December due to various reasons (blog post here) and so started off January with the aim to start working him properly again although that was stopped again as I got tonsillitis right before I was due back to uni so wasn't able to ride for a week! Luckily, he was then able to start work again and *fingers crossed* we are finally getting somewhere with his canter! Yay! 

The first few schooling sessions he was still finding right canter difficult and was also bending incorrectly in left canter, but since having the week off and also starting to lunge him in side reins, he seems to have worked out right canter and strikes off on the correct canter lead each time. I have been gradually increasing his canter as I do not want to do too much with him causing him to find it too difficult and then refuse to canter again as a lot of the issues are often more psychological with him. This has meant that I will either just canter round the outside of the arena, or do a 20m circle picking up canter after X and then cantering half way down the long side and introducing him to cantering the whole circle which is what he finds most difficult. However, since the discovery that he can do right canter, he has since found striking off on the left rein harder and bends the wrong way, but he is still happy for cantering so I think we just need to do a few tweaks and a bit more work and we'll get there (I hope!). 

Letting him have grass at night as he wasn't allowed out!

We have been hacking each weekend to give him a change from schooling during the week and also to increase his fitness a bit more as well him enjoying it as he is so so much more forward and loves to have a good canter which will (and is) hopefully help his cantering in the school as it opens him up and he feels a bit more confident in doing so. I have also been lunging him a few times in side reins to get him to use himself a little better and I have found it seems to help more as when I canter him without side reins he just shoots off but with side reins he does a much nicer canter. I also had a lesson last week (blog post here) giving us some things to work on to make him more forward and straighter. 

Hopefully February continues to move forwards in the same matter. Depending how he goes he might have the chiro next month or hopefully he can wait the three months he's due as I have just had the saddler which showed no problems but who knows with horses?!

Thanks for reading!
Laura & Pea x