Unicorn Canter

Pongo and I were struggling to find the magical canter for jumping yesterday.  I think we were both feeling a little sluggish.  I have been on the struggle bus lately and just feeling spread a little too thin, so that might play into things.

Feed me cookies???

I had been riding him in a full cheek snaffle, but S felt like he needed some more breaks.  So S had the girl try him in an elevator and it was too much for him.  I got to try the Wonder bit on him.  I am not sure how I felt about it.  He was softer, but he was also curling behind, which I prefer bracing to curling.  I don't like going towards a jump with the horse curling.  It unnerves me.

Wonder Bit

Our first set of jumps was terrible at best.  I think we pulled rails at every single jump.  He was sluggish and behind the leg for the whole set.  We put eight strides in a line that should be a forward six.  I was trying to get him forward, but he was so backed off that I wasn't ever to able to recover.

The next time was a little better, we had a couple decent jumps, but he was still getting too backed off.  S sent us through and added a few more jumps.  I got him much more forward, but after the third jump he started curling and I wasn't sure if he was paying attention.  We had the biggest jump coming up and it was freaking me out that he wasn't locking on to it.  Call me crazy but I want the horse to be paying attention to the jump.

More cookies!!!!

He did see it and everything was hunky dory but it was still unnerving.  After that, we finally got he bolder canter we needed and got some really nice jumps.  Why is it so hard to find the canter?  I think I need to spend some time playing with different canters so we can find that more forward one easier.