Even if I didn’t have a crop…
I would have half halted with my inside rein and bumped him with my inside leg while pushing him into my outside rein to keep his attention and his focus off the outside of the ring. He would have not been allowed to look up or to the outside.
He would have been legged up and would not have been allowed to stop in the corner and look. Again, half halts do wonders.
I would have bumped him up with my legs into a more rhymical, energetic canter with more forward motion from the git-go.
My reins would have been shorter and my hands would not have been in my lap. Instead, they would have been in front of his wither and active.
I would have been in a light half seat that encourages the forward motion, instead of a sitting position, which indicates collection. I would have not been riding backwards.
If I thought that the horse was going to stop at a jump despite actively bumping and clucking and I didn’t have a crop, I would have put the reins in one hand and reached behind the saddle and tapped him with my other hand.
In other words, I would have been actively riding him, and not a passenger. The rider never looked in control of the situation. The horse went around looking up the entire time pretty much doing what he wanted to do.
Forward and focus are the first things that you teach a young horse.
The horse is very cute. Remember, whenever you get on a horse you are training him, whether it is good or bad.
Cute as a button.
