November 22nd Playtime

November 22 2009

Wow. Prince and I had a wonderful play session today!!!! Plus an amazing ride!!! Prince, Ruffy and Twosox were up near the riding ring when I got out there. So I decided to take my equipment up there because there were a couple of things I wanted to do with Prince before I saddled him. I managed to get everything up in two trips. The first time Prince saw me he turned and went the other way and totally ignored me. How interesting!! I always love feedback!!! I didn't pay any attention to Prince and just continued up the hill. The second time I was going up the hill, this time with my saddle, Prince did the same thing. He turned his zone 5 to me and ignored me. I just walked right on past him. Ruffy on the other hand couldn't be any more curios!!!! He followed me right into the riding ring and was checking everything out. Since I wasn't paying any attention to Prince he suddenly got really interested in me. I decided to do something different and I closed the gate so that Ruffy and Prince were closed in the riding ring. They started playing so I just watched. It was SO cool!!! Ruffy can get Prince to canter 2 ½  laps in a circle just by chasing him and trying to bite his tail!!!! I love watching them play!!!!

I sent the horses around the riding ring. They cantered off and cantered about a lap then started trotting. I let then trot for a little while then I asked Prince to disengage and they stopped and looked at me. Prince didn't want to come to me but Ruffy came right over. I rubbed him and didn't pay any attention to Prince. Ruffy decided to take off again. He had SO much energy!!!! Prince went off after him. Ruffy tripped on something and was limping for a couple minutes. It is amazing how he went from galloping around one minute to peacefully sleeping in the sun the next. Since Ruffy was limping I decided to play with Prince a little bit at Liberty. We did Touch it from 30ft away, sideways over the barrel, Stick to me, I stood about 35ft away and send Prince over to the pedestal and asked him to put all four feet on it and he did!!! He knew exactly what I wanted!!!! Prince was now glued to me!!!! It was so cool!!!!

After that I went and got my halter and haltered Prince. Then we played around with bowing. We are just starting it but Prince is SO clever!!!! After that we did some Stick to me Online. We did walk, trot and canter. The first two time I asked Prince to canter with me I had to support it with my carrot stick a little but the third time when I started cantering in my body Prince did it at exactly at the same time!!! It was SOOOOO cool!!!!!! I didn't need to use my carrot stick at all!!! Then we went and I asked Prince to jump the single barrel that was lying down. At first he just trotted past it but finally he figure out what I was asking and he jumped right over it!!

Then I went and saddled Prince. He stood perfectly still while I got him ready then we went off and did some Porcupine games and some stick to me. Then after the saddle was tight enough I sent Prince out on the circle. I only asked him to trot. I gave him a long phase 1 and then a quick 2,3.4 and he was off. It took us a little while before Prince gave me 5 circles at the trot with out breaking gait but we got it. Prince even offered to canter a couple times and he cantered for 1 laps or so then went back down to the trot. I think he was expecting me to ask him to canter. Hehe I love doing the opposite of what my horse things I am going to do!!! :) We then went and played with sideways at a trot. I asked Prince into the trot and then sent him sideways. He went off at a really fast trot so we got a really fast sideways. It was cool!!!!!

Prince was ready to ride so I got on. I just tied my lead rope into two reins because my mom was going to use the hackamore. I actually like that better for some reason. Not sure why. Prince and I started off with some Follow the rail. We did a lot of trotting. One thing we have to play with is getting or Direct and Indirect reins tighter and not drift quite so far from the fence. We did the Follow the rail with a carrot stick this time. I don't really like trotting with a carrot stick yet but it was really nice today. My riding has come leaps and bounds in the past few months!!!

After we had finished doing Follow the rail we did some Sideways, 9 step back up, pivoting on the hind quarters and some point to point. Prince was SO light!!!! Our sideways was a MILLION times straight too!!!!

Now here is where it really gets fun!!!! Ever since I started riding the Patterns I have avoided Figure eights like a lot of people avoid the porcupine game and that is because I couldn't figure out how to get my body right so that Prince could do it right. So finally over the last couple rides I have been playing with it and just doing it!!! At the walk we got it figured out but once we went up to the trot everything fell apart again. Again I have been playing with it and we finally had some success and now I can't wait till we can ride Figure eights!! So today we played with them. I did the first couple at a walk just to make sure everything was smooth then I asked Prince to trot. He would trot through the middle then he would break gait when we were half way around the barrel. Since I didn't have my hackamore on I didn't have anything to get to a phase four with so once we got a fairly good Figure eight we stopped and I took my savvy string and put it on my wrist. That way I could get to a phase four if needed. That really helped Prince. At first he wasn't to happy about it and pinned his ears a little but after that he was very snappy!!! He went into the trot at a phase 1!!! We kept at it and finally we got almost a complete figure eight at a trot. So we took a LONG rest. Prince had a big lick and chew also. Then once we had our rest we started off again and we got a complete figure eight on the FIRST TRY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so proud of Prince!!!!!! It is interesting because when we are doing things like Weaving and the Figure eight Prince's trot is slower and a lot easier to ride but when we are doing some thing like Follow the rail his trot is faster. I like it though!!!!

After we had another long rest we went and did some Weave. We did both at the walk and at the trot. When we were doing the Weave at a trot Prince brought gait the first time but that was only because we had to go in bwteen Knightly and the tire but after that we trotted the whole Weave!!! After that I got off. All three of the Patterns that we did were so good!!!!! It was so much fun!!!

After I had gotten off and un-saddled Prince I picked up his feet. It wasn't perfect but it was so much better then it was yesterday!!!!! Prince's was REALLY good on his right side. He let me do almost everything with them!!!! I made sure to put his foot down before he started pulling and if he did pull I just went with him and didn't try to hold on or anything. That way I was able to have my hand on his foot but now act like a predator and get tight. Before I asked Prince to pick his foot back up again I would take a couple seconds and just rub massage his leg. It really made a difference. When I went to Prince's left side he was a little bit harder but he quickly figured it out and relaxed and let me hold his foot no problem!!!! His left hind foot was the hardest. I could feel that even though Prince was letting me hold his foot and he wasn't pulling he was still tense. So I just massaged it while I was holding it and when he relaxed I would put it down. That helped and in the end I was able to clean his foot out and he wasn't tense, not prefect yet but a lot better then what it was!!!

It was an amazing playtime from start to finish!!!!! Hopefully Wednesday I can trim Prince. It might take me a long time but if I do it right it will keep getting better!!!

~K