Should have just gone on a hack
There may be a couple of things contributing to my problems at the walk: either I'm too fussy and poking at Clover AND too tight/active with my seat, or I'm seeing the early stages of EPSM.
I'm going to go with the first option, until I see something more drastic on the EPSM side. Clover's walk was fine when I let the reins go to the buckle and let Clover walk on, as per my trainer's suggestion. I'd noticed over the last several rides that Clover “felt funny” in the hind end at the walk—like she was taking very small steps, even pacey, and stabbing her hind toes into the ground.
I think what's going on is that I'm not doing a good enough job of allowing Clover to move into the rein, it's hard to follow her because she does not move her head and neck enough for me to follow. If I try to exaggerate the following motion, I wind up taking back on the reins too soon and restricting her movement that way. I think a short term solution until I develop a better feel at the walk is to let the reins slip a couple of inches for the medium walk work.
I don't even want to think about EPSM—I know, it sounds like I'm burying my head in the sand, but before I get some kind of weird quasi-Munchausen-by-proxy syndrome with my horse, I want to make sure it's not my riding.
The bulk of yesterday's ride was about getting Clover in front of my leg. I spent a lot of time throwing the reins away and riding forward—even going half seat to get off of her back. I wonder if she was just being “energy conserving” or still a bit under the weather (no temp again, btw).
I finished up by practicing some leg yields off of my right leg—I put my leg behind the girth, got a good feel on the left rein, let slip the right rein, and tap-tapped her right haunch with the whip in my right hand. I increased the tapping until she took a couple of steps away. If she started to move her shoulders instead of her hind legs, I half halted with the left rein. We repeated a few steps of leg yield each time. Much better results than getting pissed and whacking with the whip.
I'm going to go with the first option, until I see something more drastic on the EPSM side. Clover's walk was fine when I let the reins go to the buckle and let Clover walk on, as per my trainer's suggestion. I'd noticed over the last several rides that Clover “felt funny” in the hind end at the walk—like she was taking very small steps, even pacey, and stabbing her hind toes into the ground.
I think what's going on is that I'm not doing a good enough job of allowing Clover to move into the rein, it's hard to follow her because she does not move her head and neck enough for me to follow. If I try to exaggerate the following motion, I wind up taking back on the reins too soon and restricting her movement that way. I think a short term solution until I develop a better feel at the walk is to let the reins slip a couple of inches for the medium walk work.
I don't even want to think about EPSM—I know, it sounds like I'm burying my head in the sand, but before I get some kind of weird quasi-Munchausen-by-proxy syndrome with my horse, I want to make sure it's not my riding.
The bulk of yesterday's ride was about getting Clover in front of my leg. I spent a lot of time throwing the reins away and riding forward—even going half seat to get off of her back. I wonder if she was just being “energy conserving” or still a bit under the weather (no temp again, btw).
I finished up by practicing some leg yields off of my right leg—I put my leg behind the girth, got a good feel on the left rein, let slip the right rein, and tap-tapped her right haunch with the whip in my right hand. I increased the tapping until she took a couple of steps away. If she started to move her shoulders instead of her hind legs, I half halted with the left rein. We repeated a few steps of leg yield each time. Much better results than getting pissed and whacking with the whip.
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