Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Prince: Circles, Zone 5 driving and Freestyle.

May 18 2010
This morning I went out and played with and rode Prince. I saddled up at Liberty and then haltered him, just changing it up a little :) When we were up in the riding ring we did some circles at the trot. Then we did some change of directions. Prince got really light and connected to me by the end. Then I asked Prince to canter 4 laps each way. Going to the right was no issue at all. But while we was cantering to the left something happened and he spooked really bad. He quickly relaxed again though and so I didn't bring him in. So again our circles to the left weren't as nice as the ones going to the right but they will get there! Prince did canter 4 laps and I brought him in for a long rest.

After that we did zone 5 driving with two lines!! I tied my 45ft line into two lines but before I did that I put each line through my stirrups. Doing that made it a lot easier! I couldn't get over how light Prince was! He has never been that light! We started off with following the fence and doing some transitions, w/t/back up etc. Prince did really well with that so then we did Figure eights! We started off at the walk and Prince was so light! It was amazing! Then we did a Weave at the trot. Prince maintained gait very well through that. After that we did some sideways, Touch it, circles and change of directions. Then we ended. I wanted to make sure to keep it short and interesting!

Then we rode!!! We had a really good, long ride. Prince and I did Follow the rail, A million transitions, Sideways, Point to point at a trot, Figure eights, closing a gate and lots of there stuff!  We had a lot to fun! First we had to close the gate so that was interesting. It was a lot of fun trying to figure out what the best way to do it was. Prince did really well and was so light! Then we did Follow the rail and a million transitions. Prince responded so well to me. It was great! After that my mom gave me some different things to do. One was get Prince to put his one front foot in a tire and then move his hind quarters around. That was a lot of fun! We did it going both ways and Prince was wonderful! Then the next challenge was to go sideways over some barrels then pivot on the hindquarters over to the pedestal and get up on there. Then do a indirect rein while Prince had his front feet on the pedestal and go the other way. Prince did everything perfectly except we had a little bit of trouble with the in direct rein while he had his front feet on the pedestal. He kept wanting to put all four feet on it. But we got it!  I was really impressed at how well Prince went sideways over the barrels!!! He put a lot of effort into it!

After that we did the Point to point. Prince didn't want to go in a straight line, he had other ideas. So we played with that and by the end we were trotted in a straight line from one end of the riding ring to the other. It was fun! To turn and go the other way we would do a 9 step back up and then do an indirect rein and then trot off. I am teaching Prince that he doesn't have to bend his head the around every time we do an in direct rein. Even though I don't ask him he does it. So we are playing with that. By the end he was doing an almost perfect indirect rein with his head slightly tipped. It was really good!

I decided to bring Twosox up to the riding ring and play with him while I rode Twosox. It was a lot of fun and I am really  proud of both Prince and Twosox. They both did so well!! We started off with some friendly game and then did some stick to me, sideways, circles and Touch it. Twosox was a little unsure about being close to Prince but by the end he was a lot more confident. We ended with me sending Twosox to the pedestal and asking him to climb up on it and then Prince and I coming over and standing on it also. At first Twosox wasn't sure about whether he could stand on the pedestal with Prince, who is the boss horse but at the end he was able to.

The whole time I was playing with Twosox and riding Prince it was really amazing because I felt that Prince was totally apart of me! He was in tune with me and knew when I was talking to him and when I was taking to Twosox. They both were amazing! I then got off, unsaddled Prince and let Prince go and took Twosox over to the small gate and let him out to graze. Then went and played with Ruffian who had let himself into the riding ring and was waiting ;)

Naturally,
~Keri

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