Prince: Isolate, separate and recombine...

June 4 2010

This morning I played with Prince. We played in the field, which was really nice. Even though the bugs were really bothersome. On our way to the field (it is at the back of our property) Prince and I did zone 3 driving. I wanted to see how in tune Prince was with me and just test some thing out. Prince did really well. When we got to the turn around we did some circles at the walk, Prince was really connected to me, which was amazing!! Then we did traveling circles at the trot. One of my goals is to have Prince circling on a traveling circle and have the belly of the rope on the ground. I think we are getting close! 

Once we got to the field we did some circles at the trot and once Prince gave me rhythm, relaxation and connection I brought him in. I didn't want to spent to long on the 22ft line before I went on the 45ft line. So then we went to the 45ft line. Prince loves it! It was amazing to see the difference. Yes we do need to play with getting more connection but Prince wasn't pulling nearly as bad as he was on the 22ft line at the canter. 

So today I wasn't really "teaching" anything. I stayed in the "testing" stage and just played around with different things. We did transitions and lots of circles at the trot. I would ask Prince to canter, he would canter a couple strides and then break gait, so I would let him trot until he was connected to me and then I would ask him to canter again. Once Prince comes down from the canter he is on a lot adrenaline and that is what makes us loose the connection. So we shall have to play with that more. One other thing I learned is not to rush Prince into the canter. With LBI, or any horsenality for that matter, you are supposed to do what?? Wait! So I asked for the canter really nicely, and waited and watched! Prince started going faster so I released. Then after he had trotted a couple strides I asked again, this time he went even faster but not into the canter yet. So I released and repeated the process. This time though he went into the canter and cantered, connected and with the belly of the rope on the ground, and his canter was slow, rhythmic and he was cantering properly. He didn't canter long, about 30ft and then I brought him in but that was perfectly fine with me.

I think the main things I learned from that was (1) Don't rush him. If Prince isn't responding then do something about it but if he is trying, leave him alone, (2) Prince already has a hard time getting himself cantering properly, he normally is either counter cantering or cross firing. He will correct himself but it takes a little bit. So if I rush him, even if I don't mean to, he will be rushed into the canter, we will loose the connection and it all goes down hill from there. So those are the main things that I learned.

I can't wait to play again and see what else I learn!


Naturally,
~Keri