Counter Cantering and a classic Dandy move

Paige introduced us to something entirely new in our lesson today: the counter canter.  Not to say that I have never cantered on the opposite lead to the direction I'm traveling before (that's happened plenty!), but I've never done it deliberately.

I've been working a lot on bending Dandy as we travel around the arena. While trotting, I bend him outward for a side, then inward on the next side and then straighten him out for the next two sides. This is how my gummy worm horse is learning to finally walk a straight line.  He spent most of his years of professional training in a round pen where straight lines were not a requirement.  

Today, we stepped up this bending from a trot to a canter.  It wasn't challenging to get him to bend to the outside while cantering on a circle, because he's so flexible.  The hard part was convincing him that he should pick up the lead to match that outward bend.

Dandy spent the past two years in Alaska with mom, who loves to ride but has no interest in high-speed maneuvers.  During my first few lessons with Paige, he had to relearn the signal for picking up a canter on the correct lead.  Unfortunately, when you give Dandy a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

He tries so hard to please that when I signaled him for a counter canter using my inside leg instead of my outside leg, he was scandalized.  He gave the typical Arabian signs of shock: toss head and tail, snort and repeat. But despite his initial shock he did what he was told and cantered around the arena bent to the outside on the matching lead.

I swear I could fold Dandy up like a pretzel and give him the same old signal and get the same result.  If he was a human, a fitting career choice would have been circus contortionist.  In fact, he was bent so far to the outside (his choice) while counter cantering that I had to straighten him out a bit.  He seems to enjoy deliberately over-flexing in any direction.

After trying this out both directions, we cantered on the regular lead in both directions. Knowing Dandy, he would try to counter canter every time for the rest of his life if I didn't remind him about cantering on the inside lead.

We moved on to jumping next, and Dandy jumped 2'3"!  It wasn't a crossrail so Dandy, after knocking it down the first time, had to really lift up his legs.  He's getting much better at timing his approach to jumps at the canter.

Dandy had one naughty moment this lesson. He's been feeling good since I raised his grain last week. While cantering down the long side of the arena approaching one of the giant mirrors, Dandy pulled one of his classic moves (that got him deported from Alaska). Upon seeing his reflection for the hundredth time today, he suddenly jumped sideways about ten feet.  Fortunately, I was sitting on him pretty securely and was able to do a quick one rein stop, but I could have killed him and would have if he had dumped me! You made the smart choice sending him to me, Mom.

Tomorrow, I'm taking Dandy to a two-hour lesson at Laramie County Community College here in Cheyenne. They have a huge indoor arena, so I signed up for spring lessons.  It's going to be a large group of riders, but I think it will be good for him to see new horses, try a new arena and get some travel under his belt (besides his traumatic journeys to and from Alaska).

We are planning on competing in the crossrail class at our first schooling show on February 20.