by annie » Sun Feb 13, 2005 12:13 pm
Good point, piaffing. For a horse that is rushing I would want to try and improve his balance. You will have much better luck with counter canter if your horse is really sitting and jumping at the canter.
For a rushing pulling horse I would work on riding a 20 m diamond at the canter, thinking of each corner as a 1/4 pirouette (it wont actually be, but that's how you want to think of it). It forces the horse to sit back, it forces you to rights him straight on the outside reing (because you need a significan half-halt before each corner), and it really gives you a lot of control. I would ride that pattern a few times until he is responding well (ie, softer straighter, more collected) and then go back to circling. From there I would bring my circle in to 15 m, and if he is balanced and collected enough down to 12, then 10 and then 8. Then push him back out to 20 and ask him to open up to a medium-feeling canter (again, not necessarily an actual medium canter, but intend for a bigger canter).
I have found that this kind of work improves the canter tremendously, especially on a horse that can be heavy, pull-y, strong, stiff etc (ie, thoroughbred who thinks his job is to take the bit and GO).
Just make sure you have a coach run through it with you (at least as eyes on the ground).