Columbus's Training Diary

We had a real breakthrough today with Columbus finally getting the idea of stretching and it was really good to see his whole body working in a relaxed, yet athletic, manner. I did 35 minutes of lungeing on the chambon to start with, asking for some flexion to the inside, then releasing the lunge line and asking for stretching of the neck and energy from behind.
He is not yet consistent in a longer outline and tries to find his balance by lifting and shortening his neck instead of pushing forward with his back legs. He looses rhythm if not send forward and is a little wary of the whip. The latter also makes him tense which does not allow me to send him as much forward as I would like.
There is still a lot to be done on transitions but for now I concentrated on him actually understanding what is required from him. The next session will be more demanding and I will make sure we change gears a lot.

Ridden session was also a step forward. He felt much more forward than last week and the work the Owner put in is paying off. Even if it is just a walk exercise it is extremely valuable and keeps the muscles working.

The left rein is much easier for Columbus who works in a banana shape on the right rein. I will be working on developing his both sides evenly in the next few weeks or as long as I continue to school him.
I was really happy with how the chambon work transpired into ridden work, especially in trot to walk transitions. Columbus has a tendency to jog instead of offering a trot-walk transition and he also likes to tense his neck in the process. Today, however, we managed a few decent transitions and there was considerably less tension in him. He also willingly stretched down in the end of the session.