Prince: Progress...

June 7 2010

Be prepared for a long post!! :)

This morning we were up early again to play. It was really nice out. It was cooler and just perfect for playing! There were no bugs! Hooray! The horses were out in the back field so we went out and played there. At first mom and I just sat down on a rock and watched the horses. Ruffian was the first to come over soon after we got there then Prince and Twosox came over also. It was really sweet! I love my horses! I spent some time rubbing each one of them and then Prince and I played at Liberty for a while. It was so much fun! Prince stuck with me the whole time and we did Touch it, Stick to me, yo-yo's down, through and over things, leading by the tail and smelling his tail. Prince didn't move his feet once when I asked him to smell his tail! And we are now at 7 seconds! Getting closer! Prince was fabulous! 

Then I haltered him and we played on the 45ft line. I am really falling in love with this rope! It is so nice to be able to give Prince the extra room and it is fun to challenge ourselves to do new things. To bad that we have to go to the back our our 28 acre property to play with it... but that is okay. For now it is working :) We started out with some yo-yo's. I backed Prince out to the end of the 45ft line. It was the first time that we have done that and I haven't had to move my feet!! Then mom challenged us to do some different things, the first one to to get Prince to put two feet on a hill while I stood about 35ft away. We did back feet and Prince backed up onto it. Then mom wanted me to get Prince to put one front foot in one tire and a back foot in the other... while I again at about 35ft. At first Prince wasn't sure what I wanted so I had to move a bit closer to help him but then I moved back to where I was standing before. Then Prince started trying really hard. We would get one foot in but then Prince wasn't be lined up to put the other one in so we had to play with it. Then Prince put his back foot in so all that was left was to put his front foot in the other one. He was facing me so I asked him to pivot and put his foot in the other tire. Part way through I saw the look on Prince's face change and he figured out what I was asking. Prince lifted his front foot up and just held it there waiting for me to tell him where I wanted it. I relaxed when it was over the tire and he placed it right there. It was really fun! After that Prince looked at me and asked a question. It was so cool!!

At one point the rope was dragging through some deep, wet dirt and Prince felt the rope tug on his halter. At first he just tipped his head, then he arched his body still trying to go the way I had sent him then he turned and faced me because the pressure didn't go away. I couldn't believe that Prince was that sensitive! Then we did circles!! They are so much more fun now that we have more space. I could tell right off the start that Prince was way more connected to me. Not perfect yet but getting there. So after some circles at the trot I asked Prince to canter. We just played with our canter departures. Things were looking promising but then the horses left... and Prince being the boss got worried. So we lost our connection. He still tried to do what I was asking and soon he was connected again and we were able to continue. It is going to take some time before Prince is cantering even 4 laps like he was on the 22ft line but I know that he wasn't connected to me at all on the 22ft line when he was cantering so when we get 30ft of canter with Prince connected to me it is a hundred times better then 5 laps but with no connection. So it will take time but I willing to take that time. 

Then we went in the other direction and I was really pleased at how well Prince did. It was amazing how a strong send will fix a lot of your problems in your allow ;) After we finished our circles we went home. On our way home we stopped at a big stump and I asked Prince to climb up on it. Prince did it with out even hesitating!! He stood up there and looked around and was very content! It has taken us a while to get that but finally we did! Once we got home I saddled up and then we went into the riding ring to play for a little bit and then ride. We didn't do a whole lot Online. Just enough tighten the saddle and make sure Prince was light and responsive still. I had to reinforce our porcupine game. It was a little slow so we played with that and Prince was light again. Then we did some jumping, stick to me, sideways, straddling a single barrel etc. Prince did really really well. Then I got up and we rode!! 

At first when I got up I had a couple things that I wanted to do but I didn't really have a plan. Prince sensed that and I did too so we stood still for a while as I made up my plan. Once that was done we set off. We did some forequarter yields and indirect rein and then we did figure eights. Now as you may have read in previous posts that is something Prince and I have been struggling with. But we have kept plucking away at it and I think we are finally breaking through. We stayed at the walk today and things went really well. Prince responded very well to my body and I didn't have to use my carrot stick nearly as much as I used too. It stayed on my shoulder about 75% of the time!! I had to be careful though because Prince was so in tune with me that if I wasn't focusing on the right place Prince would go exactly where I was looking. So at first our figure eights were a little bit messy but we stuck with it and when I realized when I was doing, things got much better. The last figure eights I only had to use my carrot stick less then 3 times and it just a small correction and it was back in neutral again. Prince got a long rest after that then we did circles!! 

They were fun!! So we started off going to the right. We didn't have to do as many circles this time before both Prince and I got the pattern and we would have done even less if I had have learned what I learned later on sooner... more on that later ;) So after we did circles to the right we went to the left. Now in my mind I had 4 points in my circle. But some where along the way I kind of lost my focus and  that was when Prince started coming off the circle and such. When I realized this I started focusing on my 4 point and our circles immediately got better. Prince got back on the circle and two laps later and trotted into the center and stopped. Now here is my point... FOCUS!!! On a circle Online we expect our horses to be mentally connected to us and the circle right? So when we are riding we, the human also have to be mentally connected, and not just on the circle but on every pattern we ride. If we aren't why should be expect our horses to be. So this is what I am going to really be playing attention to. Now I know that it can be hard with other distractions and such but I am going to get my focus really good. When I am riding, or playing  I am going to make sure that (1) I know the pattern in my head before I ask my horse to do it and (2) while we are doing the pattern be fair to the horse and concentrate, focus.

I changed the shimming pattern in my theraflex to see if it made a difference and it did. I didn't get Prince sweating but there wasn't any rub marks (Yippee! My fluidity is getting better!) so we shall see if it makes a difference in the sweat patterns. 

Anyways... I played with all three horses this morning. I will write about their play times later :) Especially about how one very small change showed me just how sensitive Twosox is...  again. ;)

Naturally,

~Keri