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Really Late April Kenny Clinic Report

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So April and May flew by in a flash, and I forgot to summarize my clinic in April with Kenny.

It was a beautiful weekend for the clinic, so I had the opportunity to ride in Robin's beautiful outdoor arena. I also decided it was time to ride in the double bridle in front of a trainer and get feed back. The ride was great. I was rushing Gadget too much, instead of getting cadence in the trot. We worked on the trot halfpass and, oddly enough, the right one is now his better one. We worked on a few steps of half pass, then medium trot forward, then keep the forward and half pass again. I need more vroom in my half pass and shoulder in. 

In the shoulder in, I need to do less with the inside rein, particularly to the left. Get him listening to the inside leg and get the bend there, not with the inside rein. I know this stuff, and I don't know why I continue to do it!

Canter work felt really good. It actually felt so much better than it looked on the video, but I'm okay with that. We cantered on a circle and moved his shoulders in and then his haunches in, really keeping the rhythm. We also changed the flexion while doing this. I need to do lots of this eventually to get him stronger. We then tried quarter pirouettes on a diamond pattern. This was very tough, but we actually got a few where Gadget stepped around correctly. I think, with time, the half pirouettes for Fourth Level will actually develop.

We ended the first day with playing with halfsteps. The key was to teach Gadget to take little steps in the walk. We would halt, ask for tiny steps, then halt and reward. We then went into trot and tried to make it small and animated. It was very fun. In the following days, I think Gadget got confused and didn't want to take big steps in the walk. He got very balky, so we are putting the half steps away until I work with a trainer again. 

The second day, we worked on half passes again. He felt a little stuck, so they weren't quite as good. The canter halfpasses were okay. I have to keep a true canter rhythm as priority number one. Then get him moving over, etc. 

We moved to the changes and really making Gadget changes when I asked. If I didn't get the change, Kenny wanted me to tap with the whip right away. Gadget got very opinionated and started hopping around with his hind end. We then moved to trying the 3 changes on the diagonal. We can get them, but they aren't pretty. Gadget basically ran the show and threw his haunches every where. I was frustrated after the second ride that our changes are still so "hoppy." Kenny has said the actual quality of the changes have improved, I not need to train his reaction. 

I went to this clinic solo without Hani and had a really nice time hanging out with the other ladies. Everyone is so nice and encouraging that it is just the perfect atmosphere.
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