Renvers/Travers

After riding Remy today, I really got thinking about this. We practiced the lateral movements as usual. On the circle, shoulder-in/counter shoulder-in, a little travers and a little renvers. I find the travers and renvers difficult on the circle, as much to do with spatial awareness as anything else. I tend to lose my place on the circle. I've started working around my mounting block as it helps keep me where I should be, and not drift off!
I find working the movements around the school on straight lines less confusing, awareness-wise. The fence gives me a good guide of where we are and also some support in the travers and renvers.
Thinking about the two movements, the travers is quite simple,it's quarters in from the track, but then you could say that renvers is the same identical movement just quarters out to the track. If you take the fence away though, I think this is where it gets tricky.
If you're going down the center line say,and keeping the shoulders on the centre line, moving the quarters to either side, you are doing travers left and right, and not renvers at all.
So, if I wanted to do renvers down the center line, I would keep the quarters on the centre line and move the shoulders.
It's how you initiate the movement that make them different. Renvers always starts by moving the shoulders, travers by moving the quarters. Once moving, I think they are the same, but for gymnasticising value, they are very different, and once you start to combine the lateral movements, how you initiate them is very important, interchanging moving the shoulders and quarters.
With Remy today, I asked for renvers from shoulder-in by changing the flexion, I know it's early days for us and we're only getting a few steps at a time, but that's how I see it and it seems to make sense.

Remy and Bonbon - Spooky and Calm

A good start with Remy today when I rode him up the lane to the school. We'd just turned out of the gate when a tractor and trailer appeared at the top of the lane about 20 yds behind us. I put my hand up, asking him to slow down and then asked Remy to trot on. It's only about 100 yds before the turn off to the school and he gave me the most wonderful, light, powerful trot. He hovered a little past the house with the scary geese, but kept going and really gave me a good feeling.
Once in the school, we started on a long rein, moving him around the school until he relaxed and then continued our work on circles, concentrating on the softness and relaxation. He was fine until he spied our neighbour in the distance, coming out of the wood. Normally it wouldn't bother him in the slightest, but today he really was more than a little worried by it,  so much so that he wouldn't settle and insisted on looking over until he disappeared into his garden. After that, it was difficult to keep his attention and he became increasingly jumpy and distracted. First the white cow down in the field next to ours, he's seen it every day for the last few months, but today it had some kind of horse-scaring vibe goin on. Then he spied Jypp (our wayward collie) jumping the fence into our top field and slithering accross the grass, herding imaginary sheep! So out of character for Rem, and I just wonder if, perhaps, we've been giving him too much alfalfa in his feed, I know it can affect some horses. It may have just been one of those days, we'll have to see.
I tried to keep his mind off things with lots of changes of bend and direction, but he wouldn't settle and when I accidently dropped my whip, I got off the retrieve it and walked him around for a while until he seemed to relax a little.
When I got back on, he was much better and settled into some nice work. Lightening the shoulders with reinback into walk and then some work on circles and then on squares, using the bottom 1/3 of the school. Shoulder-in, counter s/i on both reins, a little travers and then a few steps of renvers. We finished on a longer rein, allowing him to really extend his neck and he gave me some really relaxed circles on both reins.

A session with Bonbon next, starting with groundwork to relax, moving shoulders and quarters, small circles, and then extending the walk until she offered me trot. It's getting better, she's staying much calmer and listening, coming back to the walk and halt when I ask, and in a calm way.
I then had a short sit-on, asking for release and then halt/walk/halt transitions, a couple of reinbacks and some circles on each rein, asking for bend and softness. A friend stopped by as we were starting, and stayed to watch. After I came out of the school we chatted for a while and I was so pleased that Bonbon stayed relaxed and stood so quietly and calmly next to me.

A lovely, sunshiny, horsey day! :-)