Ride #5 & #6

What a great little mare. It’s probably a bad thing I’m getting this attached! After all my excitement last night, I went back to look at what I was doing with Bear about the same time in his training, and I was just as besotted with him at this point too. I guess I’m just used to riding RE-training projects, you know, fixing the problems that someone else has created. I am yet again amazed how good these horses are when you set them up for success and they don’t have negative experiences to make them tricky to ride.

Friday night I spent a long time grooming again. Then I lunged her at walk, trot and canter. She did so well! Her canter is definitely getting stronger. The week she had off was not long enough to undo her conditioning so far, and now that I’ve cantered her and can see that she is as strong as ever I guess I’m feeling like there really was nothing going on with her leg. Then I put side reins on and did some walk-trot transitions, then some collection and extension work at the trot. She is doing so well cantering that I want to give her a few more goes on the lunge line to build her confidence and let her relax before I canter her with the side reins on.

Then I hopped on, and the name of the game for the night was forward. I started out by letting her just meander around the arena but if she stopped or turned toward a wall I just clucked and bumped and made her figure out a way to go forward again. I started this partially to really clearly define forward without mixing in direction, and she got the idea right away that she was allowed to pick her path, so if I got busy she knew that all that was being asked of her was to go forward again. I also did this because she was a little gate sour last time. Slow to walk away from it, quick to walk back to it, and constantly wanting to circle back. So I mad it clear that she could be by the gate if she wanted, but had to keep moving. If she chose to walk circles there she just constantly got reminded to keep going, then when she walked away I was really quiet because she was walking out on her own. I think it was a good start. Then I picked up the reins and kept a little contact and started directing her, first all the way around the arena, then just on a circle. We trotted a bit both ways, and again I’m amazed how put together her trot is. So the second direction I picked up on the contact a little more and she trotted a full circle in a nice frame with a good balanced trot! So great! It really goes to show how much they can learn about carrying themselves when lunged with side reins.

So we quit there. Not much time in the saddle, I kept things varied while I was on, and I got such great results that I figured why push it?

Saturday turned out to be another great night! I free lunged Lola for the first time. The arena is small enough for it to work but we had to work on not stopping in the corner. It was a good continuation of the lesson that forward is forward, so that she will continue past the corners on her own if I am letting her trot around the arena and only focusing on going forward. This also was a good step towards her cantering under saddle. I wanted her to have to figure out on her own how to balance around the turn on the short side. Its easy for then to pick up speed on the long side but not be able to carry themselves through the turn. She did really well on getting the correct lead and keeping the canter through the tricky parts without trotting or losing the lead in the back. She does need to work on picking up the canter without quickening her trot and relax a little more, but that will come now that she’s feeling like she can actually do what I am asking. Lots of good steps forward.

I tacked her up in the dressage saddle tonight, and rode in that for the first time. She felt great, I felt more comfortable, and I think it fits better than the western saddle, so she’s done with western except maybe for trail rides.

We worked on maintaining the bend on the 20 meter circles at the walk. Then we worked on trotting. Again, forward is forward and I’m not interfering too much at this point with either direction or asking her to be on the bit, I just want to have her go forward when I ask and keep going. At the end I trotted her just a 20 meter circle going nicely on the bit, made a nice walk transition, and then a good halt right in the center of the arena, and then hopped of and gave her lots of good pats! She’s been so much fun. We still are only working about 20-30 minutes on the lunge, and about 10 minutes on her back.

Last night I got to be her hero, she now thinks I’m just about the coolest thing in the pasture! She always gets a big drink from the water trough when we get back to the pasture since its right next to the gate. The other night there were horses there, and when I turned her loose she just came right back to the gate with me because I was where she was safe from the horses. So I went back in and chased all the horses away and made then stand back while she took a long luxurious drink. Now its clear that I really do have all the power, and she thinks I’m awesome! Just sort of funny…