Orion 3/27

Orion worked on collection and extension within the gaits and strengthening his hindquarters in general. Unfortunately, he had moved back a little bit regarding lightness on the left rein. I used lateral work to really fire up his hindquarters and was able to do most of my work in a gentle sitting trot (thanks Jean Paul!!!!). He was very good at keeping the tempo in the trot and not continually insisting on "powering on" and actually had to be ASKED to trot "bigger", which was a pleasant change. We worked on trot/canter shoulder-in in both directions, trot and canter half-passing (his half pass to the left improved closer to the end, less "falling" on the left leg). In his 20m trot shoulder-in circle on the right rein, he actually offered a few steps of passage when he felt the restriction of the left rein! I rewarded him heavily, and also asked for "higher collection" closer to piaffe and he complied very well. After each period of shortening, I asked for lengthening to stretch his lumbar and get his forward swinging energy back in the trot.

His canter half-passes were really improved and a real pleasure to ride. As he warmed up, his canter got lighter, slower, and had a LOT of lift, so I started asking him for more advanced movement. He was able to trot pirhouette easily (more a volte, but hey! He turned a nice trot half-pass into a 180 degree ~3-4m volte and kept on going!) and once he was cantering well I ran him through canter shoulder in up the long side to canter half pass across the diagonal, then moved to 1/4 turn pirhouettes in the canter and eventually got a very nice 6m canter volte on his right lead. He leaned into it, but the hindquarter was still supportive and he understood the concept well. I also asked for a couple flying lead changes and got his "good" right lead to his "bad" left lead in a change. I could feel he was late behind and cross cantering for about 2-3 strides and he self-corrected. He was fast in his left lead canter for a few strides and then he calmed nicely and continued on.

Now, if I could only sit his HUGE canter-trot transitions :-)