November 10th play time

November 10 2009

WOW! What can I say!! Prince and I had a really fun playtime today. We started in the corral by doing some Zone 5 driving with 2 reins. We then went up the hill to the riding ring and did some Touch it and Figure eights. I was amazed at how well Prince did at the Figure eights. Normally he is not connected with me but today he was mirroring my body and they were amazing! Then we went and played with Weaving at a trot. At first Prince would trot a couple steps then break gait so we kept with it and after a little while Prince got it and we trotted one side of the Weave!! I think that the hardest thing for me is keeping Prince motivated while we are doing Zone 5 driving but it is getting better!!! We also did some Sideways and Yo-yo's in Zone 5!

After that I untied the reins. Prince was being a little mouthy..... okay a lot mouthy! ;) So I decided to play around with his mouth a little. I put my fingers in his mouth. He did not like that. So after a little while I decided to use the carrot stick. Prince didn't like that either but slowly [and very slowly] got used to it. I wanted to continue with that but still had some other things I wanted to play with and my mom needed my help. So I decided to try something that Mrs. Parelli said in the Level 2 kit. She said to out a savvy string into your horses mouth like it was a bit and then tie the ends together. Then go play that way your horses mind is on what you are asking him to do and not on the savvy string. My problem was this..... I didn't want to put my blue savvy string in Prince's mouth but I needed to have a Savvy string on my carrot stick. So I put my normal Savvy string in Prince's mouth. He didn't have as much of a problem with that as he did with the carrot stick and my fingers but he still didn't really like it. Then I put my blue Savvy string on my carrot stick. Since it wasn't muddy or wet I wasn't to worried about it getting dirty.

So off we went. At first Prince was thinking about the savvy string in his mouth but pretty soon he stopped thinking about that and started thinking about what I was asking of him. We then did some circles. This is where it gets really cool!! My blue Savvy string is about 1ft longer then my normal one and it has the leather popper at the end. I sent Prince off on the circle at the canter. He cantered for a very short time then broke gait. So I went through my phases [Long phase one, quick 2,3,4] and did Prince ever get moving fast!!! I definitely got the message down to his feet!!

He then cantered three laps, not breaking gait once then I brought him in for a rest and a lick and chew!! After a rest I then sent him out the other direction. Prince very easily cantered three laps that way too!!! I thing I found my effective phase 4!! :) The really neat part was that from then on Prince would stay in the gait I asked him to be in. So when I asked him to trot, he would trot, and when I asked him to canter he wouldn't just canter ¼ of a circle then break gait. He would canter until I asked him to slow down!!! So that was cool!!!!

After that Prince got a long break and I also took the Savvy string out of his mouth. I think he had forgot about it!!! hehe Then I got on and rode. Our bareback riding has come A LONG way since I have been sick and haven't felt like saddling Prince up. He is so soft!! I asked Prince to climb on the pedestal and while we were standing there I asked him for a Lateral Flexion. I wanted to see how if Prince would move his feet and if he did how I light I had to be to get it so that he wouldn't move his feet. The left was really good. Prince thought about moving his foot but then didn't. On the right side I made sure to be really soft and Prince really nicely bent his head around. So that was cool!!

Then we did some Follow the rail and Point to point. Our Follow the rail has gotten SO good!!! I don't need to correct Prince at all!!! We are also playing around with trotting longer distances. My seat has gotten A LOT better since I have been riding bareback more!! I can now ride Prince's trot for longer distances and it doesn't get uncomfortable!!!

We also did some Sideways with a fence. I decided to use a fence because I wanted to help Prince get his hind quarters moving WITH his forequarters. So I didn't want to have to be worrying about that and Prince drifting forward! Prince did very well. He was light and tried to do what I was asking. When we got a couple good steps of sideways we stopped and rested. Then went the other way. After that we did some yo-yo's. Prince remembered from last time and was even better!!! We did a lot of trot to back-up yo-yo's. Prince was SO light!!!

While we were doing Follow the rail we refined our Direct and Indirect rein even more. Prince has gotten a lot more responsive ever since we have been doing Follow the rail. The next thing we have to conqueror is Figure eights. I have kind of put it off a little bit because I know they will be bad.... or just not good. So that is one area that I haven't followed the Patterns to the letter. Oh well. I guess we will have to get on them soon. Maybe on Friday when we trailer our horses out for the Play day.

I was very proud of Prince and how well he did!! Being sick has improved our bareback riding that is for sure!!!!

~K