More horse play!

Saturday Oct 10 2009

Today I played with both Twosox and Prince. It was SO beautiful outside. Only Prince and Ruffy were in the corral when my mom and I went out to play. So we went out and found Twosox and Knightly in the field. It was really rather weird for Twosox [being a RBI] to be away from the herd.

We [mom and I] decided to play with the horses out in the field. Twosox and I did some stick to me to start with. Then we went to some traveling circles. Then Twosox decided that he didn't really want to be circling so he tossed his head, bucked and took off running. I wasn't prepared for it so I decided to let go of the rope. Twosox took off running through the bush. Since I didn't want to scare him I took another path through the woods. I found Twosox calmly drinking some water from a puddle. When he saw me he came walking right up to me. We went back to the field. Twosox wasn't scared so we went back to our traveling circles. He tried one more time to get away but I held on this time. Twosox started relaxing and his trot softened. It was really good. I love playing in the field because there are a lot of dips and hills. I walked over to the hill that leads down to the lower part of the field and stood there and Twosox circled around me, going up the hill and down the hill. It was really interesting to see how he moved up and down the hill.

After that we took a rest and then I massaged his legs. Twosox really liked that. Then I asked him to pick up his feet. Twosox did SO well!!! I am really proud of how far he has come!! I was able to take a really good look at his feet and since we had been playing on grass they weren't muddy or anything ;) When I asked Twosox to pick up his back feet he was SO soft!!!! He let me hold them, pick them out, move them around etc and he was fine. What I had to do though was not hold his feet so high. Twosox is more comfortable with his feet lower. So that was great!!

Then we went over to a big rock and I sat on it and helped my mom with her traveling circles with Knightly..... while Twosox took a really good long nap ;) My three brothers [my oldest brother and two younger once] came to see us. Twosox spotted them and was worried. But once he saw them he relaxed.

My mom let Knightly go before I had let Twosox go so I wasn't sure how Twosox would do [if he would get worried or not] but after I let him go he stayed with me!!! He couldn't see Knightly but he was totally calm and relaxed. What a special horse!!!!!!!! I love him so much!!

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All the horses were in the turn around when we got there. Prince came right up to see me!! Rubbed him then haltered him. We then walked back to the corral. The rest of the horses followed a little bit behind. Prince did so well while I saddled him. I felt kind of bad because I am sure he would have much rather been out in the bush with the other horses. But we had fun playing so I guess that was good.

We played up on the riding ring. Prince trotted 7 circles with only 2 corrections!!! Hooray!!!! It was so cool!!! Plus he cantered 4 laps!! After we had played for a while I asked Prince to pick up his feet. It is amazing how something as small as a different hoof pick [with a brush on it] can make Prince not trust you as much. I was using a new hoof pick I bought with a brush on the one side so that you can brush the dirt out of the foot and Prince wasn't sure about it. Poor guy! Like they say "Horses never forget but they will always forgive" So lots of friendly game and rewarding the slightest try. By the end Prince was doing a lot better and was more trusting but he still wasn't totally sure.

Then I got on and rode. Prince did so well. We did our second day of Follow the rail. I am not sure if I mentioned this before but Prince and I have gone back to the beginning of the Level 2 Freestyle patterns and have started them again. When we were first doing them I wasn't consistent enough and so Prince didn't really know the pattern. So when I wanted to advance it he didn't know what I wanted. Just another lesson in "Taking the time it takes so it takes less time" :) I think that is my biggest challenge! Sticking with the task until I Prince starts asking questions and then stopping when it is better then it was when we started.

So we did Follow the rail. It was only our second day but Prince caught on so quickly. We did a lot more trotting today because I am a lot more fluid riding his big bouncy trot in a saddle. I made sure to have a really strong focus and that REALLY helped. I mean it make the world of difference when I was riding Prince's trot. Prince was a lot more in tune with me also. I can tell that our Transitions, indirect rein and direct rein are getting a lot softer also.

Near the end of our ride we were trotting a long and instead of going in between the barrels and the fence Prince went around them. Now a couple weeks ago I would have just said okay, it is to much effort to go all the way back and do it right so I will just take that but not today. We were still trotting and I just softly asked Prince to turn and go back through. To my surprise Prince stayed trotting and we turned and went back through the squeeze. When we were right in between the barrels and the fence I relaxed and Prince stopped. Then that is where we ended. Prince had a big lick and chew then I got off.

It felt really good to be persistent and go back and do it the right way. Plus Prince didn't feel wrong because I did it softly and politely. It was really cool!! When I took the saddle off Prince there were only really, really really small rub marks so I was even more happy!!!! Prince even stayed with me for a little while after I had let him go so that was really cool too!!!

It was really peaceful out side while I was riding. I haven't ridden that late into the afternoon in a long time so it was really nice. It was the perfect fall day!!! :)

~K