Thank you Donald! With Cisco, because it has been a long road for him to become strong enough to even think "piaffe", the strength and readiness of the horse is first and foremost in my mind too. I thought the horse in the video looked ready to at least try, and was trying with a great deal of composure. Did you think so too? Or did he look not quite ready?
But I was asking (and having a moment of not asking a very direct question...sorry) what others thought Mr. Branderup was saying in the video. In part because I could not hear every word. And if I heard it right, it somehow made a great deal of sense, because outside of the horse's physical ability, the rider, of course creates more problems than the horse does...always...
It just blew me away that the horse in the video hopped at all...I thought that it was only Cisco who did that! Really! My opinionated Cisco...
Lately Cisco is doing the hop less and less (and therefore I'm having trouble remembering if he did it at the beginning of a try or during, or at the end...). He is not getting cranky and he's not even shaking his head very much. I am becoming a bit more fluid and thoughtful in my aids (thanks to waltzing and learning what the vaqueros do (thank you Donald and Sue!) and learning to isolate them so I can think about what I'm doing, help from my friend Paul...toss in a little Chris Irwin and Hempfling, and loads of reading here in this forum.
Cisco has more and more impulsion. He has more energy and is more willing to offer a bigger movement (for him) in his gaits (which creates another challenge for me to learn to ride it). One of the things I do NOT know how to ride is the piaffe, or even properly ask for it. I am hoping that during our clinic here, Paul will help me with that. I know, thanks to Walter Zettl's videos, how to help it happen on it's own, but when Cisco really tries, I'm at a loss as to how to sit it. Do I help? Do I stay quiet? Somewhere in between? Flap my elbows and help him fly? How do you best follow the movement of the horse?
So it made some sense that a mistake from a rider can cause confusion for the horse (resulting in a hop), because I am guilty of that many times over!
And thank you Emmerie...you have added some clarification and another pespective not just on what he said, but perhaps what he meant (?) as well? Thank you!! That does make sense!
I am hoping that my big breakthrough in the piaffe will happen in about a week and a half.
And I'm reasonalbly sure I shouldn't be flapping my elbows....