Magic and I rode this morning. We lunged and used the ground poles. I propped the far end of the last pole up about 20 inches and made the distance from the set-up pole about 10 feet. Magic has the right attitude about “go forward”. He trotted over the set-up pole and was set to jump the little jump which he did and landed in a canter on the correct lead. Julian Westall suggests such a set-up in his book “Educating the Young Horse”. It seems to work. I have not cantered Magic much. He seems to have a nice canter but it has been difficult to get the correct lead on a counter clockwise circle. (the right lead) I expect that I am the problem in this situation. We will keep on working with lunging and ground poles. He seems to have learned to watch his feet and adjust his stride to match the ground poles. In the arena today he seemed more willing to pay attention and take the correct bend. We rode up to the spring on Pinnacle Mountain and a little past. It was a very enjoyable ride.
There are a lot of resources available today about how to train a horse. Right now I am utilizing methods from two sources and they seem very, very different. Julian Westall in his book “Educating the Young Horse” studies each minute step in great detail. His approach is to take your time and get it right. I am also watching Clinton Anderson’s videos about training his OTTB “Tricky”. Clinton progresses the training at a fast pace. One episode he has Tricky working in some elaborate obstacles. He is lunging and sending Tricky over half-round 2’6″ jumps, 4 of them in the circle. It looks awkward to me like the distance is exactly right to get Tricky in the wrong position, stride wise, to make the jump. Nevertheless, Tricky makes it around, several times. Clinton’s philosophy, I think, pushes the horse to go where he is pointed; make the effort; do it. I cannot follow either example exactly. If I did it Julian’s way, my horse would sour with the slow pace of progress and if I did it Clinton’s way, my horse would be overwhelmed and loose confidence. I am trying to learn which parts of each approach I can use with my horse at my speed. It is a great advantage to have so many resources to learn from.