Feb 21st

As somebody at the Keep it Natural group was asking about what the changes were in relation to now being able to get a canter; I tried to collect my thoughts!

The things that have made the difference are I think the following; but there are lots of things I can't put my finger on!! In particular I relate this to cantering on the 22ft, this was a massive problem for us.. it used to be trotting!! When I finally started getting a canter, the next trick Giddy would throw at me, was tipping her nose out and then taking off at a right angle across the field, rope trailing behind her; she even managed to succeed doing this with Eddy Modde on a course ;0) She hasn't dont this for ages now, although it used to happen most sessions

• REALLY long dwell and comfort to really reward when she goes forward, sometimes even 10 mins + doing nothing for just offering a canter transition - this is a massive test of my patience, previously I used to dwell for just a minute or so maybe, it can feel like a really long time, but just being in the moment really helps
• Changing the subject and going to something else, or even calling it a day when we got a canter and turning her out
• Part of these long dwell times is giving her huge scratches in her favourite places, she loves this!!
• The next thing I introduced, was asking her to canter and then slowing to a trot after just a stride.... after just a few sessions of this, things really started changing, and all of a sudden she started offering canters - i.e. it became her idea to canter
• On a really personal note, I am quite reserved emotionally, so worked a lot on really showing her I was pleased, lots of positive energy, smiles etc, that may sound silly, but again, I think it made a difference when I really conveyed to her how pleased I was
  We also had problems with bucking, so she would go into canter, then stop, turn towards me and buck and jump off the ground with all four feet, in the past I think I had released here as it would get quite dramatic, so had to be firm about asking her to move on
• Another thing, I worked with a 45ft, and this made a BIG difference, although it's a challenge to handle!! But giving her more room seemed to really help, an things were much better when we went back to the 22ft
• Food, being a Haflinger, she would do almost anything for food, for a long time, I never gave her treats, as this was opening the door for pushy behaviour, but, now our communication is better, I am confident that I can give her a treat without her pushing on me, so I dont do it consistently but now and again, when she offers something nice, or at the end of one of the really long dwell times, she gets something from my pocket, and this too has helped
• Point to points with cones under saddle also transferred to ground work, so if I set it up right, could get her heading for a cone with enthusiasm...although for a while, she would head for a cone, stop and buck ;0)) Now if she sees cones, she will invariably head for them and pick them up or paw at them, talked about this with a recent lesson with Ali, and she said to make sure I mix this up - its good shes asking questions and offering something, but I dont always want her to stop at cones ;0))))
• Moving with her also helped, and certainly for a while I had to turn with her otherwise I couldn't see that nose tipping out and I would lose her
• Winning other games and general relationship building I am sure all played a part in our (long) journey to this point, in particular getting control of zone 1 as this is how she dominates me, and when i was losing her on a circle, for us at least, this was partly about zone 1, trailer loading, and realising it was about zone 1 made a difference in all sorts of areas