Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Time for Fun - Canter Leg Yields!

Thanks everyone for all your comments on my post about the accident. It helped to have a medium for getting that frustration out. I am starting to let go of the anger and fear that came from being at the receiving end of such carelessness.  I was lucky; it doesn't look like I will have any lasting issues and no one else was in the car.  I know others have been through worse.

I was more than ready to get back in the saddle! It had been 7 full days since my last ride, yikes!  We introduced something new - leg yield at the canter.  I have never done them before and neither has Brumby.  I was surprised at how well it went! He really only messed up when I didn't have myself coordinated properly, naturally.

What an amazing feeling! Wow. It has been awhile since I've felt as though we were really communicating well. For most of the leg yields it felt pretty effortless and was just a whole lot of fun. We didn't always hit the centre line before the turn but I was not too concerned with that, being our first effort.

Definitely one of those smile plastered on your face days. Hmm, maybe I do prefer dressage to jumping...not that I've done much jumping lately anyway!

Be well.

3 comments:

HorseOfCourse said...

I am so happy to hear that you are well, RB!
And not only well, enjoying yourself too!!! Congrats on the leg yields.
You know, many riders get hooked on dressage once they get a horse that let you do the fun work, and makes it possible to get experiences like this.
So keep enjoying yourselves, you and Brumby...and maybe over time you'll find the dressage more exciting than jumping?
On the other hand, it's always nice with the Winnie-The-Pooh way of doing things, and take Both.

Melissa-ParadigmFarms said...

Canter leg yields are a wonderful exercise for lightening the front end and getting them pushing from behind when ridden correctly - clearly you got that great feeling!

RuckusButt said...

Who doesn't love Winnie-The-Pooh? Yes, I think I will always do some of both. I don't think you can have good jumping without solid flatwork anyway. They are both fun, in their own way. And variety is good for both horse and rider! I've been doing more dressage type work than jumping for the last 2 years anyway.

Melissa - exactly! Getting those hind legs engaged was the reason for doing this exercise. Well, that and it's a good building block.

I am so happy to have another exercise in my toolbox to help with our canter work and hind end engagement. And one that is so effective!