I rode Phoenix on Sunday, and we worked on getting him to go forward and build impulsion. Anna had been sick and hadn't ridden him in four days, so I thought I would hop on and see how he was. Considering it's been cold and wet, and he went from being outside 24/7 to be in all the time, he wasn't too bad. He was pretty stiff warming up, so when I picked up the canter I went into a posting canter to help build impulsion.
For a posting canter, you two point one stride, sit one stride and repeat. During the sitting stride, you push with your seat and leg to encourage forward momentum then let them come up to you while in two point. It takes a bit to get it figured out, but once you do it really helps get the horse forward without too much work and it develops a nice rhythm. I felt a difference in Phoenix by the end of our ride.
Yesterday, Anna was back out and I was hacking Zoe while she rode. I demonstrated the posting canter to her on Zoe, then had her do it on Phoenix. She didn't quite get it, but his stride still lengthened and he was moving better. I also showed her how to ask for leg yields, and since Phoenix does those really well, she was able to get a couple nice ones out of him.
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