Lesson Recap: Hello Remedial Trot Circles, My Old Friend - 13Jul2025

 This lesson recap is a bit belated, as the lesson took place over a week ago. However, my Pivo didn't overheat for once, so I have media (!!) that I can't just *not* use.

Doing the dressage!

As usual, this post is mostly for me, so I've organized my notes in bullet points. 

• We started with some leg yield at the walk from quarterline to rail:
• Focus was on keeping a swinging walk with a nice, loose, forward leg yield.
• Tracking left, he really needed me to half halt on the outside rein to remind him to keep this right shoulder up.
• Tracking right, he also needed a half halt on the outside rein, but it was easier to keep his right shoulder up since I was using my right leg on the inside at the girth.
• We want to eventually teach him to swing through the trot like he does in the walk. 

Flowy walk leg yield

• Warm up at the trot on a 20m circle:
• As soon as I asked for the first trot transition, he hollowed and rushed forward. My immediate response was to pull back on him, which made him really open his mouth.

Oof, sorry bud

• Brynne wanted me to feel like I don't have to hold him where I want him. When I put my leg on, his first reaction is to rush forward. We want him to swing through his body in balance instead.
• She asked me to add some spiral in/spiral out to the circle, using the positioning to help him find the answer.

He dumps on his forehand, rushing to try and catch his balance while leaning on my hands.

• We started adding walk/trot/walk transitions to further encourage him to shift his weight back and wait for me. In response, he offered to canter instead (lol). 

Working harder than I'm asking him to

• When I asked him to leg yield out, rather than flowing forward and in front of me, he would tighten up, taking tiny steps mostly sideways. We want to encourage him to relax through his body, rather than taking choppy pony trot steps.

Pyro: "that's haaaaarrrrrrrd"

• Using small circles to encourage balance at the trot:
• As he continued to try and blow through my cue to trot right into the canter, I started adding small circles so I could ask him to come back without pulling on him or trying to hold him back. It is not my job to HOLD him in balance. 

Exhibit A: remedial trot circle

• Brynne coached me to sit tall through the circle and use my inside leg to help show him how to balance. I was not to ride the small circle just to slow him down only to have him run out of it, but to show him how to pick his shoulder up and balance.
• When he would relax/balance/swing through the trot, I'd let him back out onto the larger circle. When he inevitably lost his balance and rushed again, we'd go right back on the small circle. 

Less rush-y, more wait-y

• When we were able to be on the large circle, I played a bit with flexion/counter flexion. I asked for a little counter flexion, and I could feel him slow a bit (in a good way). When I first asked him to switch to inside flexion, he immediately started rushing again. Brynne coached me to really slow down the change of flexion, rather than making it an abrupt change that would cause him to throw himself off balance.

The counter flexion while tracking left really helped him pick up his right shoulder.

• After a loose rein walk break and changing directions, he anticipated so much once I gathered the reins that he ran off into the trot before I asked for anything. I had to circle him into a walk only for him to break into the trot multiple times. 

Move that shoulder, Bud. Don't pull through it and dump it right.

• After many many remedial trot circles, he started making better offerings, slowing down or breaking to the walk rather than running from my leg.

I had to snug up my girth mid-ride due to all the wonky leaning and small circles. At least he's good while I struggle with a short girth.

• Walk Break Discussion - Rideability:
• Brynne: "Rideability is one of those things where people say that they breed horses for it, but in reality, the number one thing with rideability is that it's trained." However, some horses are more easily trained to be rideable. 
• At the root of a lot of our work today, it was asking the sensitive, reactive horse to be more rideable. To keep himself in a place of balance where he could wait and thoughtfully respond to my aids when they came, rather than just reacting and running. 

Contemplating training theory while Pyro contemplates his life choices

• Leg yield at the trot:
• Focus was on him not running away from my aids and encouraging him to ask the right questions. We didn't care much about whether he did a perfect leg yield or where his head was, etc.
• While we were hoping to go to leg yields down the quarter line like we did in the walk, I was really only able to start incorporating them on the circle, spiraling in then leg yielding out, reverting to small circles as needed. He started catching his balance sooner with the addition of the leg yield. It was a bit of a lightbulb moment. I would put my inside leg on, and instead of running from it he moved out and caught his balance. He began asking better questions, and his expression became more thoughtful instead of reactive with an ear cocked back to me. He even started to reach into the bit lightly.

Thinking hat: On

• "On the days he comes out and all he wants to do is go, all you want to do is feel like you're riding a western horse."

Pyro: Let's GOOOOO

Starting to relax and flick ears back to me

• When we switched directions, Brynne had me purposefully let him have a walk break because he seems to anticipate the most when I gather him up and put him back to work. Since he seems to be pretty reactive when going from the walk to the trot, we set him up with a learning opportunity by doing it this way rather than changing directions at the trot. Alternatively, if he made the right choice (quietly transitioning into a quiet, balanced trot), he would get rewarded.

SPOILER: He did not make the right choice. He immediately picked up the canter. I took him onto a small circle until he came down to the trot, kept him there until he waited for me, then took him back out on the larger circle. Rinse. Repeat.

• Tracking left, he was resistant to turning, let alone bringing his shoulders around to the left on the small circle. We played with smoothly going from counter flexion (until he was softer on the outside rein) to bringing his neck straight for the leg yield. I want to ask him to bring his shoulder over and UP. 
• At this point in the lesson (40 minutes in with 5 minutes remaining), he was recovering his balance much faster and maintaining my tempo more consistently, staying relaxed and swinging.

Ear on me, less heavy in my hands

• Trying the canter, armed with remedial 10m circles:
• We decided he was in a place we could try the canter with the remaining time we had, and when I put him back to work after a loose rein break, he gave me the most honest walk/trot transition yet.

He tensed his back a bit, but didn't immediately rush off.

• In the transition to the canter, he (as expected) squirted forward and rushed, but it only took one circle to get him to offer a little more balanced canter.

Me: *focusing all my brain on proprioception so I can try to stay tall in the saddle and balanced*

• "It's the same thing that we do at the trot where we're training that rideability instead of running. He wants to run instead of coming back to you when you put an aid on him."
• Especially tracking right, he wanted to really lean his shoulders in on the small circle. I had to focus on sitting tall and centered in spite of his leaning. At one point, he broke to the trot, so I leg yielded him out a tiny bit to help him figure out that picking up his shoulder would help him balance, then asked for the canter on the small circle again. Breaking it down like that helped him find the right answer.

Getting it right for a few strides! Good boy!

• I felt like we ended the lesson in a good place, and I was confident in my homework until our next lesson.

He even gave me a fairly well balanced and steady canter/trot transition!

Other Notes

• Staying balanced and "under my seat" is Pyro's job. If he gets unbalanced, that's his problem... but I can help show him how to rebalance. 
• I shouldn't be constantly riding him backwards. He should wait for me.
• "The more he convinces you to hold him, the less you'll be able to do anything else."
• He doesn't always come across as a hot horse. He was practically napping in the crossties when Brynne arrived as I tacked up, and was quietly fluid in the initial walk work. Once we added the trot and canter work though, he came across as having a ton of energy, despite having been out all night just before this morning ride.
• He's quite sensitive, but we need to make him more accepting of the aids. He needs to think about what I'm asking, rather than just reacting. 
• Brynne: "I think he gets in his own head and starts making assumptions." 
• He can do the hard things (that require athleticism), but getting the relaxation at the same time is more difficult.
• He definitely worked harder than I intended him to, and he sweated enough to match. Thankfully, he showed no indication of having thumps afterward, so I think I have his electrolyte intake where it needs to be.
• I made some recent tack changes (bit and girth) that I think played a part in this lesson, but that's for another post!

I'll leave you with this reminder of what it was like starting him as a (scrawny!) 2 year old compared to the grown up gelding I have now!