Today was a really big day for Dee and I. I've been working very hard to get her stronger behind so that she would find the canter transitions (and work in general) in our tiny ring less stressful. We've been doing endless walk-trot transitions, some baby leg-yields and as much stretchy work as I can convince her to do, and I've basically left the canter work alone completely. Today, she was doing some really lovely trot work... mostly stretching, quiet, forward and balanced... so I decided to try a little canter. We started to the left, which is the hard direction for her lead-wise, but the better direction for her in her trot work. I made sure she was forward and balanced, then softened my hand and asked for canter (she tends to get feeling a bit restricted with too much contact, so I wanted her to feel free to canter forward). To my great surprise, she popped right onto the left lead. No fuss, no muss. Sure, she threw her head up a tad, but I don't care about that right now. I care about the fact that I was able to ask for canter and get a QUIET transition onto the CORRECT lead. I honestly expected some playing or bucking or.. i don't know, baby antics.. but she was a perfect lady, I only had to give the slightest of leg aids and off she went. She broke a little bit on the 1st short side, but quickly picked back up and went on. The right lead was just as nice, with a quiet depart and an even nicer overall canter. The left side is definitely her weak side for canter work.. I could feel her struggling a bit more to maintain it (which is strange, because I'm rather crooked, with my right hip quite a bit higher than the left, and I have always had a TON of trouble with right lead canter, because it's hard for me to get my hips moving properly.) After our HUGE canter success, I quit for the day and told her what a rock star she is for picking up her leads on the first try. Seriously. I love this mare.
I think that I mentioned a few posts back about starting her onto Mushroom Matrix's ECP Matrix. I'm really thinking that it's making a difference. She's looking good and feeling great. I also just got a FREE month's supply of Performance Matrix. Bettina swears by it for young horses, "Blood Matrix is specially designed to improve energy and endurance and to promote quicker recovery after exercise. It works by helping to improve the transportation of oxygen to cells and the removal of carbon dioxide." (from mushroommatrix.com). Hey, Ill give it a try. I'm a big fan of the ECP, so I think I'll be a fan of this, too.
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