Lesson in Flying

Amanda was serious when we discussed all of the hard stuff we were going to be working on. I can't tell you what a difference the hock injections have made in Ashke's ability to use his hind end effectively. We have a chiro/accu appointment on Friday and I am hoping that visit will address the little bit of stuff I still feel going on in his hind end.

Last night was proof positive that if you work on the issues you find, things get easier. I left off trying the flying changes back in November because 1) Ashke didn't want to find his canter afterwards, which made me really sad after all of the work we've done in making it a solid gait, and 2) I needed to work on increasing our canter work and strengthening his hind end, especially moving on the right lead. During our lesson, Ashke was actually offering the flying change so I had Amanda get on to school the change.

There was one more attempt where he got a change in both directions, mostly clean, that I didn't catch on video. The one after that, which I accidentally erased, was a hot mess and it was obvious that he was tired, so we stopped trying.

The difference in this ride is that Ashke came right back to my hand. We reestablished our walk, trot, canter and halt and then ended the lesson. Ashke will have a couple of days to think about what he was shown before we do an arena ride again. I am probably going to do a lesson on Amanda's horse, who has confirmed changes, in order to figure out the timing for asking for the change. That way, when I am working with Ashke, I'm not making him confused during our rides.