Getting a balanced canter: Right rein (yikes) vs. left rein on a baby OTTB

It was the best of canters, it was the worst of canters.

I am still not entirely convinced how I have not fallen off yet (great. Stay tuned for the next video where I'm in traction JUST KIDDING THAT WON'T HAPPEN oy) but today in a lesson we did some more work with my half lease horse London, the 5 year old OTTB whom we are restarting.

Canter with any sort of balance on the right rein appears to be something she has not done. Her owner and my trainer Hillary of Grey Horse Farms (greyhorsefarms.com) even believes she may have never had any canter training beyond her race training (where they only go counter-clockwise/left rein) and when she was ridden by previous people at full speed with no direction or balance, and a very heavy hand.

London has a lot of PTSD from said heavy hand and very fast pace and as a super smart girl who is super tuned into her rider, when I ask for a canter on the right rein she goes into full panic and has moments where she resists all instruction.

BUT SHE COMES BACK QUICKLY!

It's going to take patience, bravery (on both of our parts), consistency, grace, kindness, and repetition to get this right. We already see progress. And we will see more!

Thank you for following along and please understand that London is very young, and very green. Things are going to look imperfect and a bit chaotic for a bit, but she has come so far since the beginning we just know she'll come along one day.

MUSIC:
https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/m...