I remember you said he’d be retired… I wasn’t clear in my intent. I hope he’s still loved and appreciated by someone. I’m glad you will visit him.
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Not sure if he will stay at the farm where he’s at now but I also heard he might go to one of the trainer’s small properties which would be amazing and close by too. I wish I could just take ownership of him but I can’t afford full care on two horses 
(or three if she moves up to something else to lease.)
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Remind her a jump is really just a canter stride.
Control the canter & the jumps come to you 
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It’s how you work on transitions that counts. 
I think you already know how it should go. Instead of just falling into a canter, there should be a small half-halt and then he lifts himself into a canter. From a medium gait. That’s what the rider needs to produce.
Yes exactly.
Once a rider gets the idea, and is able to physically and mentally effect it, sometimes it’s surprising how supple the old horse still is! LOL Recently I saw an older horse that I know suddenly produce some very nice, correct, transitions and jumps I didn’t know she still had in her. It was the rider that made the difference.
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Yeah, I’m just trying to figure out how to get her child brain to understand it which is tough. We have played recently with a slow versus faster canter so thought maybe that could help her understand . Maybe I can show her by watching me. I have no doubt she will get the idea eventually. I’m a dressage rider so I love all the details myself.
She’s got the upward transitions into canter beautiful so far. It took awhile though.
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That could be because he’s not getting much from the seat that is nuanced or consistent. So he’s become a bit dead to it, but it isn’t happening anyway.
Of course I don’t know how your daughter rides. But learning the seat can be even more of a conceptual understanding than the contact from mouth to hands, slower for riders to feel and understand for the first time. Especially as horses are quick to ignore it when it isn’t making any sense to them.
Kids have their own head space for learning these things. And each one is different as to how much, at what age. There is no forcing them to understand more than they are capable of, so I’m rather backed off of getting frustrated, or pressing them too hard. It can be very discouraging to have someone continue insisting on something that doesn’t make sense to you, and I remember that from early riding lessons with instructors who weren’t realistic about youngster learning.
Personally I don’t worry too much if it is just too much detail for them to process, or they frankly aren’t mature enough to grasp the details. That’s ok. Time to enjoy riding, time to learn to love it before learning layers of technique. More things to learn in amazement later – riding will never get old!
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He’s done a lot of up down beginner lessons in the last few years and beginner jump lessons so he sometimes tunes them out, which is part of what made him a good horse for beginners. In the last year he’s come out of his shell a lot though. And much much more forward. But yes she’s a tiny little thing and has more refinement to learn in the years to come!
A few weeks ago they worked on simple lead changes (through the trot, these are more h/j type lessons.) We were all shocked at how well they both did. She’s getting more and more out of him as she gets better
And yes I have to be careful not to bombard her.
Sometimes she wants my help and sometimes she wants to just hack around and play. It’s all just fun anyway!
She’s going to do some easy trails on him when the weather is nice and an obstacle clinic. They have played with working equitation stuff too which she loved.
Think of the “child brain” as a positive not a negative. Children learn to ride easier than adults because their brains are not overthinking things. So use that feature of the child brain to your advantage. Don’t get too technical.
Adults overprocess and overthink things. Children don’t…which is why they learn riding faster than adults. Use that. Have her think of what her body is doing when she’s running and wants to come to a halt. Ask her to think about what does her balance do? Ask how she changes her balance and readjust her body so she doesn’t fall on her nose. This is the start of riding by feel.
Work on getting her to think of the horse’s legs as her legs and how would she communicate to the horse a change in balance.
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Very true!
Teach her to ask for canter, with a slight flexion-no overbending- and to use her outside drawn back lower leg. The outside hind leg is the initiating canter stride. The horse is a saint.
I suspect a lotta holes in the education she’s receiving.
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Lol lol lol. This was me sharing how proud I was because she had a light bulb moment. Part of the point of this lesson was she was learning to not over bend and how to actually influence his body. Just wanted to share with people who understand the joy in figuring things out. She’s a tiny, tiny twelve year old that was scared to canter just two years ago.
I know a few hunter jumper barn full of adults and older teens who can’t do anything but get over a jump. Maybe grip about them. That is not at alllllll the type program she is in. It’s always about a different skill, just in a fun and creative way for kids. It’s not dressage lessons but the instructor makes sure to focus on the flat a lot.
Editing to add : of course she has holes in her education. Because she’s 12 years old and wasn’t born knowing how to ride a horse. Her previous instructor was very very old school and technical but scared the snot out of her by getting her bucked off multiple times and belittling in her. She’s not in a fancy dressage program. But in this new program she has went from being terrified to wanting to explore new things and enjoying going to the barn. The lease horse who yes is a saint walks up to her in the pasture. Follows her around at Liberty. Has more energy than he has in the last 2 years that I have known him. It’s a partnership they’re both enjoying even if it’s not perfect.
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A good riding instructor needs to have a lot of different ways to explain, and hopefully one of them will click with the student. And that goes for adults, too!
One explanation that I found helpful was to be told that instead of pulling back on the reins, the rider needs to ride the horse forward into the bit, stop following with the hand and the seat and the horse will stop itself. In other words, horse won’t stop? Try more leg!
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Her and her instructor do well together but a lot of the time it’s group lessons. This is more of a hunter jumper flavor although the instructor has a background in a lot of things so she sprinkles a lot. Which makes it a lot of fun for the kids.
Plus I’m out there on the weekends with her and sometimes she wants me to give her tips and tricks to help. Sometimes not 
sometimes she wants to just hack around which is really the point of the lease anyway.
I only ask because I can see she’s kind of at the cusp of reaching a new level in her riding.
Lots of good tips from everyone here.
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Think of the transition like you’re on a float on the ocean. It should feel like a wave, where the energy comes up, sinks behind, then you get let down - but the energy never really dissipates. That analogy really helped a girl I was teaching.
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That’s a good one!
Three things come to mind. Try them separately. The first two use the exercise to get the transition without the rider specifically asking for it.
One - Make the canter trot transition on a small circle.
Canter and ride forward through the small (try 10m) circle and allow the circle to upset the horse’s balance enough for him to transition to trot himself, and ride forward off the circle before it upsets the trot balance. The rider keeps riding forward and balancing the horse without trying to keep the canter, and learns the feeling of riding forward and balanced through the down transition far more easily than simply trying to ride forward and balanced while asking for trot.
Two - Timing the aids with the canter stride. This could take several rides to get all the way to the end as the horse needs to understand what the rider is asking.
As she canters around she identifies the point in the canter stride when the horse’s shoulders are coming up (as this is also when the hind legs come forward underneath the horse’s body). She starts by saying (out loud) “Up… up… up…” then adds a little push with her legs into a little half halt with the rein as she stretches tall in the saddle every time she says “up”, and immediately releases (relaxes) leg and hand to allow the canter stride. She will feel the horse get a little more balanced, more upright, and take very slightly smaller strides.
At first she will have to repeat the aids every stride for 5-8 strides to find how strong her aids need to be to get that little response. This is a collecting of the canter on a minute scale. Then she can ride large and do the collection for three strides (or as many as needed to get a response), each stride getting a little more collected than the previous one, at each letter or every other letter. As she practices this, she can lighten her aids as the horse understands what she’s asking.
Once the response to the collecting aids is good, she can ask every stride for a little more collection - without trying to keep the canter - and the horse will get to where he is unable to collect any more and will transition to trot himself, balanced as she rides forward into that trot. As she understands the feeling of riding forward into the smaller canter and the trot transition, she will be able to do 1-3 collecting strides in canter as her preparation for the trot transition, and ride forward into the trot when she specifically asks.
Three - This one is for later and. may be beyond the lease horse’s ability. The horse needs to be able to do a balanced canter on the circle without a lot of help from the rider.
Canter on a 20m circle with a loose rein and transition to trot. Trot 1/4 to 1/3 the circle and transition to canter. Canter the circle and repeat. Don’t use the reins for the transitions. This exercise is about the rider feeling how their body affects the transitions. It’s fun when you get it!
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#2 is fantastic for keeping a horse on a steady stride through a course of jumps. It works for rushing and sucking back!
One basic exercise from h/j land is to do a lot of transitions between trot and canter. Seems like she’s got the upward fine. The goal is to maybe have only 5-6 strides at each gait. But you must not ask for the new gait until you have the right control and rhythm and balance in the gait you are in. So maybe at first he’s trotting 10, 15, 20 strides before he is ready to canter again. But the repetition of the exercise creates anticipation that works for you. The horse begins to anticipate the downward (as well as the upward) and even more so as you get the transitions closer together. So as a rider you start to be able to do less and less to get more of a response in a shorter amount of time. Helps to slow down the horses that rush like this but also is repetition that helps the rider learn the feeling. I like it for young riders and young horses. Do it one direction until it’s going well. Take a break and then go to the other rein.
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Very nice that you are giving your daughter some space to just enjoy riding! That must mean a lot to her.
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Sounds as if the horse has picked “his person.” I vote for turning this into “play time”…not to work on technicalities. Let her find her sea legs with her new 4-legged friend.
If the horse is a saint and she’s game, how about seeing if she can ride him bareback in the arena? First at a walk, of course. Then as she gets her sea-legs, progress to trotting then cantering. Show her the old westerns where you see the indians galloping cross country bareback. This is a great way to learn to feel what the horse is doing under you.
Here is a video of Alycia Burton that might inspire her
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