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This video shows the same lessons of trotting, cantering, and then stopping with Max moving to the Left. His stop is pretty good and shows a great deal of Impulsion. However, I am still concerned about his straightness. Although this may be something that I can overlook in a green horse, it is something that can become a habit if not addressed early.
This is Max's third day at School. He has learned to give the walk, the trot, the canter, and the stop from voice commands. However, he has not learned to skip gaits. In other words, we have only performed one transition up or down. From the walk, to the trot, or the trot to the canter. And downward transitions have only been from the canter to the trot, the trot to the walk, or the walk to the stop. We have not skipped gaits such as going directly from the walk to the canter, or the canter directly to the stop.
Obviously these are more difficult. So far, all we can be sure the horse knows is that when we open our mouths and say something, that we want him to perform one transition up or down. Thus, we cannot be really sure that he truly knows the difference between the command to trot or the command to canter. In fact, from experience, I can be pretty sure that he does not know. The way I will teach the distinctions of these commands to Max is that I will start with the stop. If the horse is cantering, it is easier to completely shut the horse down to a stop than to ask him to subtly change gait to the walk.
In this video, we warm up by asking for the trot and the canter and then the stop. I am pretty forceful about the stop as stopping is a safety concern and when I say stop, I want the horse to pretty much come to a sliding stop with his hindquarters engaged. Max has learned this new lesson on his third day and performs beautifully. As usual, with a green horse, straightness is a problem.