Where did my LBI go????

So this morning I got up at 6:30 and went out to play with the horses. I wanted to get out before the bugs got bad. It was SO much fun playing really early!!! It was so peaceful out side!!

Twosox came over to me as soon as he saw me. He is so sweet! He followed me around and so we ended up played at liberty a little bit. We played with the ball for a little bit. He wasn't to sure about it at first but as soon as he sniffed it out and all he was fine.

I was supposed to be playing with Prince but he didn't exactly want to be caught so I just started asking him to do things at liberty. I asked him to go over to the ball and check that out, then we did some sideways, leading by the tail then we did some touch it. Prince went over to the ball and I asked him to touch it. He put his nose on it then looked at me so I smiled and asked him to put his nose back on the ball he did it then he looked at me and asked a question. So I asked him to put his nose back on the ball. He did and he just kept it there then he started playing with it and pushing it around.

Then I put my savvy string around his neck and we did some sideways towards me, leading by the tail but I asked Prince to do it faster, and then we went over to my halter that was on the ground. Prince didn't even notice the halter. So I put a little bit of oats on the halter. Prince was looking all over for the oats but couldn't find them. I asked him to lower his head and he put his head right above the oats and then realized they were there and ate them. Then I haltered Prince from the ground. He kept his head really low for me while I haltered him.

We then went up to the riding ring. We started by doing some stick to me. I made sure that my focus was really strong and I had my energy up. Prince did really well and stuck with me the whole time. We worked more on our cantering stick to me. It is getting so much better!!!

Since we had played in the corral before we came up and on the way up to the riding ring I got on Prince. He was in a great mood and looked ready to ride. So I got up bareback. He is SOOOOO comfy!!! I haven't ridden him bareback in a while so it was really nice to be able to do it. Compared to riding Twosox BB Prince is a dream!! He is very wide!!

We didn't do to much at first. Just some carrot stick riding, preparing for when we ride bridleless riding. Prince and I are getting really close being ready. I think we are ready now but I want to really make sure that we are going to be safe but still have fun.

Prince was in a playful mood, hmmmm my LBI is playful?!?! He wanted to play. So I got off because I didn't really want to deal with that while I was riding. So we played some on the ground. It was AMAZING!!! I mean Prince cantered on the 12ft line and there was a lot of slack in the rope!!!! So he was cantering on about 9-10ft!!!!!!!!! It felt like wasn't even there!! I asked him to just the barrels standing up. Then we went and did transitions, Weaving, Sideways towards and away from me. Then I got back on again. Prince still had a lot of energy and wanted to trot so we trotted for a little bit then he started snaking his head and it kind of felt like was going to buck a little so I got off again.

My mom was using the 22ft line but since I really needed to give Prince more room to move his feet and run I had to figure out something. My hackamore was lying on the fence and I remembered that you could untie the reins and make it into a 22ft line!! Thank you God for that idea!!! So I untied the reins and put the hackamore on Prince. I don't know why I didn't think of doing that before!!!!!!!!!!! We have needed another 22ft line SO many times but never had one so we just made do but now we have one!!!!!!!!!! My sister has a hackamore that she doesn't use a lot so I asked her if I can use that one when I ride and that way we can keep mine untied so that we can have two 22ft lines!!!!!! I am SOOOO happy!!!

Anyways.... So Prince and I went and played. It was so weird seeing Prince have all this energy!! I wasn't prepared for that!! He cantered everywhere. We did change of directions with out him breaking gait [we have gotten them before but they were never that nice!!] Prince was just amazing!! We did Weaving at a trot, lots of transitions. Prince almost galloped too!!!!

It was so cute because one time Prince was trotting around on the circle and he saw the pedestal and climbed up on it with all four feet then turned and looked at me and asked a question!!!! He was sooooooo cute!!!

Then I tied the rope into two lines. I can tell that it is actually a 22ft line because it was perfect for us to do zone 5 driving. My other 22ft line has shrunk so it really isn't 22 feet long anymore. We did some trotting, sideways, then we did some figure 8's. At first Prince didn't get the pattern and they didn't look that pretty but once he got the pattern he was great!!! We have never got that nice of figure 8's!!!!!! I let Prince lick and chew on that then I got back on to ride.

Prince did really well. We did some follow the rail, sideways, back up with just the savvy string and some point to point!!!! It was great!! Once I let Prince go he went to the gate [there was a skunk that he was really interested in] I started skipping with my savvy sting just to see what Prince would do he ran off then turned and ran towards me!!! So we played at liberty a little. We did stick to me, and sideways towards me, then I opened the gate.

Prince was SOOO much fun to play with!!! Not that he normally isn't but it was fun to see that he can put out a lot of energy!!!

Should be fun to see what he is like next time!!

~K