March 27 2010
So this afternoon I played with Prince. We had a lot of fun and played in three savvies, Online, Liberty and Freestyle... well I guess four because we did a little bit of Finesse. Before I start though I just wanted to share what happened this morning while my mom and I were cleaning the corral.
While Mom and I were out cleaning the corral Prince layed down. So when Mom took a load of manure out I went over to see Prince. Over the winter every chance I have gotten I have went to him while he was lying down. Sometimes he would stay down and other time he would get up. But I was just happy that Prince would let me get any where near him while he was lying down. When we first got Prince he didn't trust anyone near him while he was lying down. If you walked out the front door he would be up right away. So slowly but surely he has gotten more and more comfortable with people around him. So today I went over to see him and he was fine with that. So I sat down beside him and rubbed him for a while until Mom came back. I did this every time Mom took a load out (we were rotating who took the load out). I was surprised how long Prince stayed down but it was nice because it gave me a chance to leave and then come back and so on. One time I decided to lean on Prince and he was fine with that so the next time I came back I decided to see if he was okay with me sitting on his one side. At first he wasn't to happy about it. He pinned his ears and tried to bite me. So I just blocked him and then when he put his ears forward I would get off. I did this a couple times until he was okay with me sitting there. Even though I was there I wasn't putting a whole lot of weight on him. So the next time I came back I tried actually sitting on him and putting my weight on him. He was perfectly fine with it! It was so cool! I sat there for a couple minutes and then I got off. I didn't actually swing my leg over but hopefully I will be able to do that soon! After that I just sat beside Prince and we hung out together. It was really a special moment! :)
Once we got up to the riding ring we smaller things, Touch it, sideways towards and away, yo-yo's and some other stuff. Then I lined the barrels up a long the fence and asked Prince to come towards me, jump the barrels and then back up to them. That was the plan but Prince offered to straddle them and thought that was the answer for we played with that. It was so much fun having something to challenge us! Slowly but surely Prince started getting the idea that I wanted him to jump the barrels. He can do it with a log but we never tried it with barrels so that is what made the difference. After a while Prince finally got it! He trotted up, jumped the barrels and came trotting to me! I was so happy! The look on his face was priceless! He knew he figured out the puzzle and was happy!
After that I stood one barrel on it's end and sent Prince off on the circle at the canter then as he was coming aroun I put the barrel in his way and guess what!?! He jumped it! He still knocked it over with his hind legs but that is okay for now. His legs are so short but he still tried really hard and almost made it! I could see that he knew what he was supposed to do it was so cool! Needless to say Prince got a long rest after that. Then I helped mom with her Figure eights and so Prince got a long rest. He was happy about that though.
Then I got on Prince and we had a great ride. After we had ridden around for a while and did some sideways, transitions, and some other stuff I decided to try some Figure eights at the trot. Prince did soooooo well! He only broke gait a couple times but other than that he was perfect! Since I was riding bareback and there was hill on part of the Figure eight I decided not to trot down it. So we would walk down that part and trot the rest. I was so proud of Prince! Then mom suggested we try a couple different things so we did. The first thing was trotting over a small jump. Prince didn't actually jump it but that was fine. He still trotted over it. At first it was maybe 6inches high and then after that couple squeezes over it mom raised it another 6inches or so. It was a lot of fun and hopefully Prince and I will continue progressing with that.
Then mom set up a L shaped lane with the poles and wanted me to back through the L and then around again to the where we started. Prince did so well! He put a lot of effort into it too! It was fun! Then mom asked me to go sideways over the one set of poles in the same L shape. The first try Prince didn't do so good but on the second try he did much better! The next and last thing was something we saw at a Parelli clinic. It is a type of Yo-yo game where you take one step forward and then one step back, then two steps forward and then two steps, three steps forward, three steps back and so on all the way up to ten. Prince did really well and when we got to five he put a lot of effort into backing up. Eight, nine and ten were a little mess because I was really focused on counting and I think I was messing Prince up plus we ran into a tire... so our back up wasn't totally straight but it was still fun and something to play with!
After I got off we played at Liberty for a while. We did jumping the single barrel, straddling it, sideways towards and away, stick to me, Touch it, leading by the tail, yo-yo's, close range circles, and lots more! Prince left a couple times but he always came back. We tried figure eights but since we weren't in a round corral Prince got lost a couple times. So we didn't continue on with those. That was okay though because even though our figure eights are really nice Online we haven't been able to really practice them at Liberty. So all in all it was a great play time! Prince and I both had fun and that is the most important thing!
Naturally,
~Keri
Once we got up to the riding ring we smaller things, Touch it, sideways towards and away, yo-yo's and some other stuff. Then I lined the barrels up a long the fence and asked Prince to come towards me, jump the barrels and then back up to them. That was the plan but Prince offered to straddle them and thought that was the answer for we played with that. It was so much fun having something to challenge us! Slowly but surely Prince started getting the idea that I wanted him to jump the barrels. He can do it with a log but we never tried it with barrels so that is what made the difference. After a while Prince finally got it! He trotted up, jumped the barrels and came trotting to me! I was so happy! The look on his face was priceless! He knew he figured out the puzzle and was happy!
After that I stood one barrel on it's end and sent Prince off on the circle at the canter then as he was coming aroun I put the barrel in his way and guess what!?! He jumped it! He still knocked it over with his hind legs but that is okay for now. His legs are so short but he still tried really hard and almost made it! I could see that he knew what he was supposed to do it was so cool! Needless to say Prince got a long rest after that. Then I helped mom with her Figure eights and so Prince got a long rest. He was happy about that though.
Then I got on Prince and we had a great ride. After we had ridden around for a while and did some sideways, transitions, and some other stuff I decided to try some Figure eights at the trot. Prince did soooooo well! He only broke gait a couple times but other than that he was perfect! Since I was riding bareback and there was hill on part of the Figure eight I decided not to trot down it. So we would walk down that part and trot the rest. I was so proud of Prince! Then mom suggested we try a couple different things so we did. The first thing was trotting over a small jump. Prince didn't actually jump it but that was fine. He still trotted over it. At first it was maybe 6inches high and then after that couple squeezes over it mom raised it another 6inches or so. It was a lot of fun and hopefully Prince and I will continue progressing with that.
Then mom set up a L shaped lane with the poles and wanted me to back through the L and then around again to the where we started. Prince did so well! He put a lot of effort into it too! It was fun! Then mom asked me to go sideways over the one set of poles in the same L shape. The first try Prince didn't do so good but on the second try he did much better! The next and last thing was something we saw at a Parelli clinic. It is a type of Yo-yo game where you take one step forward and then one step back, then two steps forward and then two steps, three steps forward, three steps back and so on all the way up to ten. Prince did really well and when we got to five he put a lot of effort into backing up. Eight, nine and ten were a little mess because I was really focused on counting and I think I was messing Prince up plus we ran into a tire... so our back up wasn't totally straight but it was still fun and something to play with!
After I got off we played at Liberty for a while. We did jumping the single barrel, straddling it, sideways towards and away, stick to me, Touch it, leading by the tail, yo-yo's, close range circles, and lots more! Prince left a couple times but he always came back. We tried figure eights but since we weren't in a round corral Prince got lost a couple times. So we didn't continue on with those. That was okay though because even though our figure eights are really nice Online we haven't been able to really practice them at Liberty. So all in all it was a great play time! Prince and I both had fun and that is the most important thing!
Naturally,
~Keri
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