It just keeps getting better!

I played with Prince this morning. Since my mom is suffering from allergies and can't go out early to play with the horses my oldest brother came out with me. It was a lot of fun being with him. It is an amazing brother!!

We went out into the bush to find the horses. They were way at the back of 28 acres. Then Prince didn't want to be caught. So we started driving them home but it is hard to do that in the bush so eventually I just decided to catch Prince. There was an apple tree back on the bush so we grabbed some apples for the horses. After I caught Prince we walked back home. The other horses followed but then we stopped to let them go down the big hill first. Then Prince and I played stick to me the whole way home. At first Prince wasn't paying attention to me, he just wanted to be with the other horses but after a couple minutes he started to think that I was more interesting ;)

After I saddled Prince we went up to the riding ring. Prince was in a REALLY good mood. He wasn't to interested at first but after we had played a little bit he really started asking questions and offering things. The first thing we did was I asked Prince to put his straddle a pole length ways. So his left side and feet were on one side and his right side was on the other. Prince figured it out in about 5 seconds. Then we BACKED off of the pole that way!!

Before I went out I looked at the self assessment sheets and got time things I wanted to work on. On of the tasts was circling 10-20 laps. So I sent Prince out on the circle and he trotted 5 laps to start with. While he was trotting I noticed that on the first lap he was trotting really fast, kind of like was on adrenaline. Then the second lap he softened a little then each lap he got a little bit softer. He didn't slow down but his trot got smoother and softer. So when he was on lap #5 I asked him to slow down to a walk. All I had to do was relax and he started walking. He walked for about half a circle then I asked him to canter, phase one and he cantered. So we played around with our transitions. They were really really good and when I had a chance to think about it after I had finished playing it was because he was softer and paying attention to me when I asked him to do something different. Hmmmm how interesting!!!

In the end we got 7 laps on the circle. Not bad!!! Then I asked Prince to change direction and he did it so smoothly!!!! It was incredible!!! We did a couple change of directions then I brought him in. Prince was so in tune with me when we were finished it was so neat!!!

Then I asked Prince to pick up his feet. He was SO good. he softly handed me his feet and let me hold them and play around with them. I did his front to feet from the same side but his back ones I am not quite ready to ask him for that yet. He was really good for his back feet too. He picked them up nicely and let me hold them. He has gone such a long way with his feet!! I remember when it was such a huge struggle pick them up and hold them. Now it is so easy!!

We also worked on dragging the bucket. Prince was totally fine with it dragging close to him and far behind him. After that we worked on doing lateral flexion from the ground with a carrot stick. Prince got it just like that. He figured it out so quickly!! Once we had played around with that for a little bit I then got on and rode. Prince did so well. We did a perfect sideways for about 20ft with out a fence. Prince was so soft and responsive. We worked on refining out indirect and direct rein. Prince will now back up with just me wiggling my legs but a tiny little bit. He is so cool!!!

Then we did some preparation for bridleless riding. Just riding with my carrot stick and a savvy string. Prince was responding really well to my body. We did some trotting too. I now find it really easy to sit Prince's trot. It is so much nicer then doing a raising trot all the time.

We then rode over to the fence where I had put the rope that was tied to the bucket was. I picked it up and we started  by backing away from the bucket and letting it follow. Prince was okay withat so we rode forwards. Prince was okay with it dragging around his back legs so I let the rope slide a little bit and the bucket started dragging farther behind Prince. Prince was fine the whole time. So we dragged it around different places then since Prince was fine with it we stopped.

Prince was doing so well that I decided to try taking the hackamore off then putting it back on. Prince bend his head around and held it there for me while I took it off then brought it back around so I could put it back on. Then I took it off again. Prince stood perfectly still while I did up the hackamore then we rode over to the fence and put it there.

We then went and did some walk to halt transitions, backing up, turning, point to point and follow the rail, then since everything was going well I asked Prince to trot. We trotted around the end of the riding ring and then all I did was relax and Prince stopped right there. I was totally amazed!! I didn't think Prince would respond that quick!!! It was really cool!! Prince has gotten so much better at listening to my body it is amazing. When I relax he either slows down or stops, when I turn he turns, when I back up he backs up.

Like Mr.Parelli says "There is nothing you can't do when your horse becomes are part of you" That is so true!!

Tomorrow the horses are getting there feet trimmed. I hope that goes well.

~K