# Completing C Certificate on Ninja



## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

((i'm bad at titles ;.)

Hello!

Wanted to make this journal to track my progress with Ninja and learning/teaching the skills to finish my C Certificate. Partially to keep myself on track, and so that I can possibly get some tips from riders who have already done the certificate 


So I guess I'll put some background information here! 

I've wanted to start my C for a while, but I never got around to it because I was switching horses a lot. I'm hoping to get it done by early next year, although I don't really mind either way.

The horse I'm riding is Ninja, who is a Morgan cross. He's turning 6 in October, so still quite young and inexperienced! I want to do my C Certificate on him because I think it has a lot of the skills that he needs to learn anyway. And skills I need to learn, of course, but that's a given haha.


The first thing I'm working towards is control in pace at canter - right now, he's not balanced enough to canter slowly without dropping back to trot. After that, I have to learn to do an in-hand gallop, which still scares me a lot ha, and jumping up to 85cm.

So yeah! I'll update this probably weekly, so I don't spam, with whatever I did that week ^^


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## blue eyed pony (Jun 20, 2011)

To address the cantering slowly - if you can, find a nice long stretch of trail that has _gentle_ curves in both directions and some good long straights. Tight turns will throw him off balance. Then pop him into a canter, get out of his way, and let him go. You will need to have a solid independent seat for this, but you should have that anyway, especially on a horse that lacks the balance and strength to carry himself.

Keep him in canter until he finds his rhythm. Then praise and let him stop. Rinse and repeat a squillion times and he will eventually slow his canter from the beginning so he doesn't have to work as hard.

It's worked for my young horses for years  

The rest will fall into place with time, once you have that canter sorted.


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## TXhorseman (May 29, 2014)

You state that this horse is “not balanced enough to canter slowly without dropping back to a trot.” This is a common problem when riders concentrate more on getting a horse to canter rather than preparing the horse physically to canter.

Many horses canter with their weight concentrated on the front legs even without a rider. This number increases when we add a rider’s weight closer to the front legs than the rear. 

The traditional way of preparing a horse for the canter under rider is to increase the horse’s hind end strength and flexibility through systematic exercise. Lateral movements – especially the shoulder-in – work best. Hill climbing is also helpful as a horse’s weight is naturally shifted rearward.


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

blue eyed pony said:


> To address the cantering slowly - if you can, find a nice long stretch of trail that has _gentle_ curves in both directions and some good long straights. Tight turns will throw him off balance. Then pop him into a canter, get out of his way, and let him go. You will need to have a solid independent seat for this, but you should have that anyway, especially on a horse that lacks the balance and strength to carry himself.
> 
> Keep him in canter until he finds his rhythm. Then praise and let him stop. Rinse and repeat a squillion times and he will eventually slow his canter from the beginning so he doesn't have to work as hard.
> 
> ...


I'll give that a go! I've been wanting to take him on more trail rides anyway, so I'll try next time I go! Thanks for the advice


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

TXhorseman said:


> You state that this horse is “not balanced enough to canter slowly without dropping back to a trot.” This is a common problem when riders concentrate more on getting a horse to canter rather than preparing the horse physically to canter.
> 
> Many horses canter with their weight concentrated on the front legs even without a rider. This number increases when we add a rider’s weight closer to the front legs than the rear.
> 
> The traditional way of preparing a horse for the canter under rider is to increase the horse’s hind end strength and flexibility through systematic exercise. Lateral movements – especially the shoulder-in – work best. Hill climbing is also helpful as a horse’s weight is naturally shifted rearward.


I hadn't thought of it that way, actually. I'll try some of the exercises you mentioned - we're actually working on doing more lateral stuff on the ground.


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

Update 1!

3/6: Just did some groundwork. He improved a lot with his turns, both on the lunge line and at liberty! He also maintained his canter a bit longer, although I didn't push it a lot

6/6: Had a lesson with my instructor! We were working on straightness - he did super well until it got dark, was really relaxed and everything. He did buck a bit when we went into the canter, because it was dark, but we worked through it and afterwards, he did really well

9/6: Rode alone at the arena, he was super nervous. Wrote about it in a different thread if you're interested, but we didn't make any progress so

10/6: I went riding with some friends! He was still a bit tense in the arena, probably because of me because I was quite nervous, but he was amazing on the trail ride! It was his first, and he was such a star. A tree fell down and he was fine maybe 5 seconds later! We also did some cantering, which I was SUPER happy with, because I managed to do 2-point without him dropping back to trot


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

Pictures! Update later )


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

Alright, update time haha.

11/6: Rode him around the block alone for the first time! He went awesome as usual. Didn't do much really, but it was getting dark and he tends to get nervous in the arena when it's dark. He didn't on the trail though, so that was good!

16/6: I went to another club's rally! So the first session was dressage...nothing spectacular really, he didn't misbehave and wasn't nervous, which is definitely better than I was expecting, but other than that it was fairly standard. The second session was grids, which I think he went really well in! He was a bit lazy and I was a bit reluctant to use more leg, but honestly, I would rather a lazy horse than a fast one! The jumps got pretty high in the end as well...around 70cm, although I didn't measure it of course. 
And third session was cross country! If I'm being honest, this session was a disaster waiting to happen. There were horses on the cross country course when we arrived, and they were moved to the paddock next to it, and that, combined with the fact that it was Ninja's first cross country outing, made us both a bit nervous. But he actually went really well! I feel like that's all I'm ever saying, but it's true! Granted, we only walked and trotted the jumps, but I'm still super proud of him, especially because I definitely wasn't helping his nerves. 

Winter is the WORST and the days are literally over by the time I get home from school, but school holidays are coming up so I'm hoping to get more riding in then. I'm going on more trail rides, so I can try blue eyed pony's advice! That should also help with his strength, I think. Plus, I'm getting lessons with my dad's groundwork trainer, which I'm super excited for! I'm also checking off some of the easier things in the C manual soon, like mounting and some of the mounted exercises.


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## Jolly101 (Jul 2, 2018)

What is a C certificate? Rider levels?  What are you required to do/know for them? Any equivalency in Dressage tests? 


Picture 1 - in your cantering picture, I can see your horse is quite on the forehand. I agree with TXhorseman that working on balancing your horse into the canter, rather than just cantering would be much more beneficial for you. You want to develop the correct muscles rather than counteracting muscles. Start at the walk with plenty of transitions (back, forward and lateral movements (sideways and forward). When working on this, ride the opposite of what your horse wants to (If he wants to go forward, transition down, with leg to help scoot his hind end under. If he wants to turn left, turn right). This will get him focused on waiting for your signal, which will also help him engage his hind end. You should also focus on keeping even contact on both reins. If you find him much heavier on one rein than the other, that means he is crooked, usually dropping or pushing out a shoulder. 


Picture 2/3 - It looks like your leaning forward in the 2-pont rather than using your core to help balance yourself. Notice that your heel has also come up. I'd actually prefer to see you approach a fence with your hands up right now, as this will encourage you to use your core and sit up. It will also allow you for better control to the fence, especially where your horse is greener . As you come within distance of the jump, then you can give the horse a crest release, but make sure to keep your shoulders back. Your leg could come slightly forward and focus on dropping your weight into your heel or toes up. Your leg position is the foundation for balance in the 2-point, so It should help a lot once It is in the correct position. Make sure that you are allowing your knee and hips 'bounce' with your horse's movement. these joints are your shock absorbers, so once they lock, you will have a more difficult time staying with your horse.


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

Jolly101 said:


> What is a C certificate? Rider levels?  What are you required to do/know for them? Any equivalency in Dressage tests?


C Certificate is a Pony Cub thing, I assume it's like rider levels? Here's a link with everything we need to learn: C Certificate Information





Jolly101 said:


> Picture 2/3 - It looks like your leaning forward in the 2-pont rather than using your core to help balance yourself. Notice that your heel has also come up. I'd actually prefer to see you approach a fence with your hands up right now, as this will encourage you to use your core and sit up. It will also allow you for better control to the fence, especially where your horse is greener . As you come within distance of the jump, then you can give the horse a crest release, but make sure to keep your shoulders back. Your leg could come slightly forward and focus on dropping your weight into your heel or toes up. Your leg position is the foundation for balance in the 2-point, so It should help a lot once It is in the correct position. Make sure that you are allowing your knee and hips 'bounce' with your horse's movement. these joints are your shock absorbers, so once they lock, you will have a more difficult time staying with your horse.


Thanks for your advice! I barely do any jumping, so my position and timing is still very poor.


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

I can't remember the dates anymore ****. I didn't ride much these past few weeks anyway, so it's fine.



First time I got him out in around a week was to ride him down to the people down the road. I'm going to be helping look after their horses and alpacas, and I thought it'd be nice to ride him down there. He was a bit nervous, especially when we got to their place because our dog and their dog started fighting. That made even ME feel nervous so I don't blame him at all. Plus, he's only seen 1 alpaca before, and their horse had some sort of syndrome (I think my mum called it 'roarers' or something) so she was making some odd noises that spooked him a bit. I just hopped off and led him around to meet them all (not because he was nervous; because we were putting him in a yard while we worked some stuff out). He was even worse on the way home, probably because he just wanted to go and I was holding him back as well as the fact it was getting dark. He chilled out considerable once we got to our road though, so it could have also been that it was a new place. All in all, I'm glad I went, even if it didn't go, fantastically.


Next ride was with my instructor and it went really great. Even just starting, he was a lot more chill than he normally is. I walked him up alone for the first time (normally my mum or another horse is there) and he was looky but not spooky. My brother turned up on his horse halfway through, and Ninja didn't bat an eye. Anyway, onto what we actually did. First, we started with some led handling because I have a show on Sunday. It went really well! Last time I had tried to get him to trot from the ground I couldn't get him to do 2 steps, even with the whip - in less than 5 minutes, he was trotting when I started 'bouncing' my walk! We also did some extending from the ground in the trot, which is bad for unfit me haha.
As far as actual riding went, we started off as we have been for the past few lessons. Straight lines off the fence. He was really improving on his turns at the walk, a couple of times he actually pivoted around on his hindquarters a bit - not consistently but it was still an improvement! When we moved to trot, he didn't immediately tense up as much as he used to, and it didn't take long to get him relaxed again. Can't quite remember what happened straight after that - I think the instructor was teaching my brother something in canter and so I was just working on transitions by myself (I got him to trot and walk/halt a couple of times from breathing in/out which I was happy with!). We also did some diagonals, just because I didn't use my leg as much as I should have so he was drifting a bit. He was good by the end though, and super forward even around the turns.
Ok so after that we did some cantering and he was AMAZING. I don't know how his canter improved so much when I haven't been riding as often, but somehow he managed it! We worked on getting the preparation and transitions smoother and prettier, and then we did some lengthening along the long side and coming back to working canter along the short side. He actually did really well at slowing down around the short side - if I tried that even a month ago, he would have dropped back to trot in an instant. Next, we moved into some figure of eights in the canter - so cantering a circle, trotting a bit before the center line, bending and coming back to canter. I think it was to practice getting the right lead, as well as getting faster transitions and balancing the trot faster after coming out of the canter. He was a star of course! He didn't miss the canter lead once, except when I stuffed up a transition. I could talk a lot more about the cantering, but this post is already way too long and I still have more to talk about so I'll restrain myself.
Right, next we did faster transitions and some halt/trot and halt/canter transitions. I felt a bit bad for the halt ones, because I had to use the reins a lot, but I released as soon as he stopped so I hope it's ok. But yeah, the transitions were awesome! Obviously, they weren't perfect but for his first attempt, I think he did great! We also did a TINY circle in canter on accident because my brother insisted on walking around the whole arena and not up the other end and got in the way (>:C) but Ninja stayed in canter, which really shows how much he's improved! At the start of this year, I could barely canter a circle on him 


I swear I won't talk much longer, I just wanna write down some stuff I want to do over the holidays!

1: Walking around the block in hand. Partially because I'm not allowed to ride on my own so I won't be able to work him as often as I'd like while the parents are working, and partially because I'm horrifyingly unfit lol. We're doing a hiking camp later this year as well for school, and I legit can't even jog up his paddock right now. I can also practice some groundwork stuff while on the walk (transitions, head down, leg yield but on the ground, dunno what it's called, etc)

2: Trick training! I have a list of tricks I wanna teach him. I'm also getting lessons with a natural horsemanship person and so once we're past all the basic stuff with that we'll probably start tricks there, but there are some other simple ones I want to teach him. Like the first one I teach will probably be to pick up a whip, so if I drop mine I can get him to pick it up. Or smile, or coming on command, or hugging, or standing on a pedestal, or bowing- There's a lot lol.

3: Jumping. Not necessarily on Ninja, although I do want to do stuff on him, but I think I'll see if I can steal one of the schoolmasters to learn how to jump. Sadly most of our schoolmasters can't jump much anymore because of foot/leg issues, but I'll discuss it with the parents. I seriously have the WORST jumping position ever, and I don't really think it's fair to try and teach a young horse to jump when I'm still thumping on his back over every jump '

And finally 4. Stirrupless! And maybe bareback if I can get a bareback pad. I'm still tensing my thighs/knees so along with some other stuff I'm trying I'm hoping stirrupless with help.


Okay thanks for putting up with my loooooong post guys!


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

Thought I'd update this while waiting for the rain to pass. Of course, the ONE day I needed it not to rain it does! Luckily I ended up washing Ninja yesterday for the show instead, or he'd be a dirty pony for the show.

It hasn't been that long since my last update, so there's not much to say. My rambling skills are excellent though, so it'll probably end up being 2 pages of fluff.

On Thursday, I had brought Ninja out around the house because he's been losing weight lately and the grass around the house is a bit richer. I just had him out for a couple of hours to graze though, plus I gave him a good brush to get most of the dirt out. Mostly I was just playing around with him though. I did some groundwork, but the horse my dad has been training was in the roundyard so it was just around the house. We did some pole stuff and I started teaching him to put his head between his front legs. I had his rug off for a couple of hours and he managed to get completely matted in mud. I don't even know where he FOUND the mud, it's all green grass but he managed it lol.

Friday I had another lesson with my instructor. It was quite a difficult one for a number of reasons: he was fresh from the grass, there was a fire burning right next to the arena and blowing smoke into it (we avoided the smoke, obviously) the arena owners were doing maintenance extremely loudly (and then they moved it into the reverberated, so the sound echoed and the horses didn't know where it was coming from...) and it was windy. He was really nervous, especially once the neighbours started their things up, and it took ages to calm him down. I feel bad for being so hard on his mouth though! I hope I didn't hurt him. But after that, we did some canter, and surprisingly he was actually better at canter than trot, normally in canter if he's being spooky he'll fall out a tonne but he didn't at all this time! He was quite sweaty though...he's been sweaty after all of the rides for the last couple of weeks. I don't know if it's too late in the season to get him clipped, though. I guess it might just have to be something we consider for next year. 

After the lesson, we decided to wash him for the show. We washed both of our horses at the same time (Thanks for holding them, mum ) which went surprisingly well, honestly. I just used shampoo everywhere, then conditioned his mane and tail. I know you're not supposed to condition it if you're gonna braid it but it always feels so silky soft afterward and I couldn't resist, haha. Then I used Velvet soap on his socks to get them super white. I might do it again today if the rain clears up, just because there's some yellow at the back of his fetlocks that I couldn't get out. Plus I've got some chalk - no idea how to use it, but I'll work it out later.

It looks like the rain has stopped now, so I'll go feed him and clean the tack. I'll update tomorrow with what happened at the show, plus tonnes of pictures if it goes well~


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

I'm just gonna pretend today didn't happen...will update on Wednesday though cos' I have a lesson with a new groundwork instructor


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

HE CANTERED UP TO ME DDD

I mean, he cantered like half the way then he walked, but that's close enough lol. I still remember when we'd spend half an hour playing tiggy before my lesson. I definitely prefer this more! It is kind of terrifying though, because when one horse starts cantering, they ALL do, and it's certainly exhilarating to have 10 galloping horses run up to you! Especially when two of them have big clydie feet. 

Also got a lesson with my instructor tomorrow after Ninja's little buck yesterday, so I'll have to get the groundwork at some other point.


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

Had a lesson a couple days back. It feels like everything we've been working on is finally coming together. He was immediately relaxed in the walk, and it took 5 minutes, top, to get him relaxed in the trot - a BIG step up from the 40mins+ we used to spend just trying to get him to stretch his neck out in trot. He also stretched out in canter for the first time. All in all, we didn't do a tonne, but what we did do was really great.

I also went on a trail ride all the way around the block. He was really good! The only time he got really nervous was when we were walking past some alpacas (which were adorable btw, they're gonna have babies soon and I'm gonna get pictures!) and I just got off and walked him for a couple meters and hopped back on and he was fine. 


Today we had Pony Club, and it was in a bit of a different format than usual. We had the same instructor all the way through - my group had a really good jumping coach. We started off with a flat session, as it often is it wasn't exceptionally good but it was a **** sight better than it used to be. I did have a bit of a scare when we finished off with a cross rail, and I cantered in unprepared and nearly came off over his neck. I didn't, but it was pretty close.

Next session we set up the jump course we were going to jump. We worked out the lines and striding, and learnt how to set out poles properly. There were a lot of oxers (I've never jumped an oxer before at all, and there were 3) and when they were setting the heights, I was freaked. The other girl in my group does a lot of jumping but isn't quite ready to go to the top group yet. Anyway, she was putting the jumps up and she had them at like our WAISTS! Needless to say, the instructor made her put them down, but even then it was around mid-thigh? I don't know how high it was in centimeters, but it was higher than anything I've done on any horses before, let alone Ninja.
Oh, also in the pony club rally 2 weeks ago Ninja was quite slow - that was the opposite problem I had today! It was kind of refreshing, but also terrifying.

Third session we jumped the course. We started out with a crossrail just to warm up, and I still had a really bad position. I don't know what it is about single cross rails, but I can never jump them well. After that, we started the course. My brother went before me, and asked the coach to put the oxers down, so that at least wasn't as scary. For the first round, I trotted into most of the jumps, except for a couple that Ninja picked up canter on his own with. I know that's bad, but I was asking him to go forward so it's not like he was ignoring me or anything. I feel like my position was actually a bit better over the course, which is a bit odd I would think? My theory is that because it's a bigger jump and Ninja was more forwards, he sort of 'propelled' me out of the saddle. In previous jumps, it felt really unnatural to go into 2-point. Second round, the heights stayed the same but I cantered the whole way through. It was pretty awesome. I don't really have much to say about it though, it was just a tonne of fun. 
Third round the jumps went up, and I had a tiny bit of trouble. With the heights at what they were, I couldn't trot in, and I don't know why but I was having a lot of trouble getting and maintaining a good canter, especially for the first jump (oxer) I had to do it a good 3 or 4 times before I could move on. Next jumps were all good, I could keep going at least. He definitely jumped me out of the saddle a lot, but honestly it was INCREDIBLE. I felt like a proper fancy show jumper. 

When the photos are uploaded, I'll post some. I might also upload some of the videos to YouTube and post them here too.


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## duskexx (May 8, 2019)

Oh! Also on Thursday I went with my dad to his groundwork instructor. I'm going to get a lesson with him on next Friday. He had the cutest horse, it cantered up to us when we arrived. We decided to get him because last Sunday happened because of not enough groundwork (both desensitizing before the actual day, and groundwork before the show started)


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