Cantering Jess and Riding Daisy!

This evening I worked with Jess again. Sunday I had ponied her off of Daisy and that had gone well. Jess hadn't cantered much, only a few strides) but she had done it without bucking. I was planning to pony her off of Daisy again tonight but the other boarder, Sara, came with people and they were going to use the arena. So since the arena was going to be in use I figured I need to work something different out. I brought Daisy in and put her in a stall, then brought Jess in. I tied her and groomed her. Put the stirrups and her bridle on and took her out to my truck to hop on her. I planned to just ride her up and down the driveway and at the edge of the yard and work her that way but then I saw that Sara had left the gate open to the meadow her horse Nessa had been in so I thought I could work Jess in there. I took Jess in there and asked her to trot. Since she seems to respond better to voice commands I have been just asking her to walk trot and now canter with voice and some leg but mostly voice commands. I want to get her going really well in the gaits first and then fine tune my commands. We shall see. For now the priority is getting her to canter without bucking. Anyway, I asked her to trot and she was like nope...she kinda walked a bit then hopped up in her back end a bit. I turned her in a few circles and eventually we trotted up to the other end of the meadow without issue. This particular meadow is a bit hilly so headed out to the other end we had to go up a hill. I turned Jess around and then asked her to go faster and she cantered down toward the barn. Ok I know you shouldn't teach a horse to run back toward the barn and my goal is to just teach her the commands and wean her off of that and get her going really well without having her headed toward the barn. Every other thing I have tried has failed. Just thought I would clarify that. So I turned Jess around and we headed out again. I did get her to canter one time not headed in toward the barn but I was getting her to listen to my voice when I asked for a canter. I cluck for the walk, kiss for the trot then do a different kind of cluck for the canter. I got her to canter maybe a total of 5 or 6 times and they were all smooth and they all went well, no bucking. I want to continue working her with it and get her worked up to the point that she will go without bucking at all and that she will go whenever I ask her to, no matter where we are, anytime :) It will take some time but I know I can do it. The last time I got her to canter, she cantered when I asked and so I let her canter, then stopped her, praised her a lot and hopped off. Took her into the barn, brushed her again and put her out in the meadow.

After working with Jess, I got Daisy out of her stall, brushed her, put the snaffle on, and hopped on her. I worked her going in and out the driveway. Mainly I just worked her at stopping when I asked and moving her hindquarters. Really didn't work her that long but I want to work her more later this week. I was impressed how she did! So pleased with how Jess did as well as Daisy. We shall see what the rest of the week holds!