May 10 2010
This morning I played with Prince. They weren't in the corral when mom and I went out so we went out to find them. They were in the field grazing. Ruffian was lying down so I went over to see him then I went to Prince. Prince and I played at Liberty for a little bit before I haltered him. We did some Stick to me, zone 5 driving, Touch it and sideways all at Liberty. It was fun! Then we went over to where my halter was and I haltered him. As I was haltering Prince the other horses left. Prince got worried. Not a whole lot... it was a LBI worried ;) We I decided to play in the field for a bit before going to find the others. We did some falling leaf because Prince seemed like he needed to move his feet. Then after Prince relaxed a little bit we did some figure eights. Prince would do really well going around each marker and then he would canter REALLY REALLY fast through the middle so I would disengage his hindquarters and start again. After a couple times of this happening Prince totally relaxed and we did some amazing Figure eights at the trot with the belly of the rope on the ground! It was incredible!
After that we went over to a ditch in the field and I sent Prince down it and then asked him to come backup again. At first he would walk down but then trot up but I wanted him to walk the whole thing. So we kept with it and on the third try Prince walked the whole thing! It was really interesting to see the look on his face as he did it!! :)
Then we went and found the other horses. They actually weren't that far away. They were in the middle of the slash cut area. So Prince and I worked out way over to them. I let Prince eat some grass for a little bit then I saw a big tree stump that was probably about 1 1/2ft wide and 3ft tall. I sent Prince over to it and asked him to climb up on it. At first he was trying all sorts of different things and then he did it! He climbed up on the stump! He didn't stay up long but that was okay because he kind of lost his balance. So then we went on to the turn around and played there. On our way the horses left again... so it was just Prince and me! We played around a fallen down tree and then went over to the huge water puddles. Prince wasn't to keen on walking through it but he did it.
Then I backed Prince into the round corral and to back right up to the log then I asked him to stay there. After that we did some different things. I asked Prince to jump the pile of logs, go sideways over a log, we did some short range circles, change of directions and different stuff. Then I wanted to play with circles at the canter. So Prince and I did that. We started off at the trot and I waited till Prince had rhythm, relaxation and connection then we did some change of directions. Then I asked Prince to canter. When he was cantering he was pulling like crazy... absolutely NO connection there! So we played with that. I decided to go into the round corral and try there because Prince wasn't getting lighter. Being in the round corral really helped. But then we had to play with Prince breaking gait. I tried some different strategies and the one that really worked was changing direction every time he broke gait. That really made a difference. Prince cut himself on the leg part way through but he wasn't bleeding to badly so we were able to continue on. At the end Prince cantered 3 laps to the right and 1 and 1/2 to the left. He had a much harder time cantering to the left for some reason. Prince was pretty sweaty so I let him cool down.
I wasn't planning on riding ring but I decided to seeing as he dried off really quickly. I climbed on with just my savvy string for a rein and my carrot stick. We didn't go anywhere for the first little while I watched my mom play at liberty with Knightly and helped her with a few things and then Prince and I went for a little walk around the turn around. It was so much fun! We went over logs, through water, up and down hills, and tones of other stuff all with one rein! Prince listened to my body and legs VERY well and I hardly needed to use my rein or carrot stick! It was so much fun! Then we went down a narrow path that the horses made. It was a lot of fun and I totally trusted Prince to watch where he was stepping. Then I had to go pick up my 45ftline that I had left in the bush. So Prince took me part way then when the path got to small and the trees were to low I got off. I lined Prince up to a stump and got off there. I couldn't believe just how light Prince was! It was amazing. Then I let Prince go and after a little bit he joined the other horses.
It was definitely a great play time and the great thing was that there were NO bugs because it was so cold!
Naturally,
~Keri
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