July 8 2010
Prince and I had a really good play session and ride today. My mom video taped it for me so I have made two videos of it. One of our Online and of of our Freestyle. It was really good being able to see us and have an updated video to critique.
Once we were up in the riding ring we did some circles first. I was surprised at how well Prince did actually. He was connected for almost the whole time and gave me some really nice circles. Since it was going so well I asked him into the canter. Now we haven't played with the canter for a while because I wanted to get our circles at the trot really good. So Prince doesn't have an snappy of trot to canter transitions as he used too. But that is okay. We shall play with it and take it slow. I know that getting the rhythm, relaxation and connected at the canter on the circle will be a challenge for us.
Then we did smelling the tail for 10 seconds on each side. Prince did really well. He learned that so fast! Then we did Figure eights! This went really well. Prince again had a little bit of trouble maintaining the trot around the one end but I am pretty sure I know what I am doing wrong and how to fix it. After that we played with the ball! As you will see on the video Prince did really really well and I was able to walk all the way around him while bouncing it, I put it on him, he really liked pushing it even though he had a little bit of trouble because he is rather short and he would push it with his chest/legs but then it would hit his nose... poor guy. He figured it out though.
After that did some other stuff like sideways, jumping, straddling, spins etc and then I got up to ride! Prince did very well but there are some things that I will need to concentrate on next time.We started off with Follow the rail. Prince did very well and the gate was open too! We did lots of trotting and then we changed direction and went the other way. Prince really knows the pattern now so I have to be careful not to over do it.
After that we did some direct rein and indirect rein. Prince almost pivoted a full circle!! He would have expect there was a tire in the way. It wasn't fast but it was a pivot. Then we went and played with the ball! Prince pushed it a long the fence and then it came off the fence he followed it and kept pushing it, I bounced it beside him, then as I was bouncing it I almost stood all the way up on him!! He just stood there nice and still. I would have made it up all the way but the ball hit my stirrup and bounced away. That was okay though because it was a wonderful start! I am so proud of Prince!
After that we did circles. These were interesting. I think I mentioned in my last post that we will circle for a little while and then Prince will head right for the middle, before we have gotten a good circle. Now on the June Savvy DVD Mrs. Parelli said that it is really easy for us to get into a fight with a LBI and that it is better to take the horses idea and then just continue on with yours... i.e. if you want to follow the rail and your horse turns, turn in a full circle the way your horse wanted to turn and then continue on a long the rail. I knew that before but I wasn't really applying it to our circles. So today I knew what I was going to do when Prince headed for the middle. I didn't make a big deal about it and we just did a small circle and kept on going. One time Prince started spinning on his front end, doing a indirect rein basically so I just took what he offered, asked him to go a little bit faster then what he wanted to go and then I asked him to keep on going on our circle.
That really helped. And eventually we got some nicer circles and I asked Prince to disengage his hind quarters, stop face and wait, and then we went into the center. Just like if we were doing a circle Online. Before we headed in the other direction my mom helped me mark a circle because I wasn't really sure where an exact circle was. I knew where I four points were but wasn't 100% sure about the circle. So when we went in the other direction I knew exactly where we needed to be trotting. That really helped me and Prince. It turns out that when we were going in the other direction, we could have stopped a lot sooner. Prince was trotted a pretty good circle, it wasn't perfect but it was good. So this time we only had to do a couple circles before we went back to the center.
I felt bad because if I had of known that information before I started riding circles then it would have saved a lot of problems. But it is a learning process and next time I will know. Another thing that I noticed was that Prince wasn't as motivated to go after we did the circles. Now I know that some of that was because we were both sweating and he was tired but I just have to make sure that we do not over do circles, no matter how willing Prince is to try for me, he still is a LBI (Hopefully getting closer to the middle day by day though) and he likes straight lines. I am confident though that know that I now what a good circle is we shall be doing a lot less circles :)
We ended with doing a weave at the walk, just to end the ride and let Prince cool off a little. I really had to concentrate on making half circles around each marker. That really helped Prince... it also helped that I didn't use my reins because when I would ask him to go I would pick up my reins a little bit to much and Prince would go but be a little bit confused because I was also asking him to stop.... :) So much learning to do!! I do really like it though. It is helping me become a better partner for Prince.
After I got off I noticed that I didn't feel the same as I used to feel when I finished riding and I came to this conclusion... I didn't have the same feeling because I am finally confident enough to solve bigger problems while riding. So instead of loosing confidence when things like the circles didn't work out right I was confident enough to help Prince and myself through the issue. So in doing that I don't really feel the same when we end but that is okay. I am learning... I am outside my comfort zone!!! Which is exactly where I need to be.
Here is the video of Prince and I playing Online:
I will post the Freestyle video when it is uploaded. Because it has been very hot we are dealing with the internet is going in and out a lot so it won't upload.
Naturally,
~Keri
P.S. You might have to scroll down to the bottom of my blog and pause my playlist music, if it is playing so that you can hear the music on the video :)
Once we were up in the riding ring we did some circles first. I was surprised at how well Prince did actually. He was connected for almost the whole time and gave me some really nice circles. Since it was going so well I asked him into the canter. Now we haven't played with the canter for a while because I wanted to get our circles at the trot really good. So Prince doesn't have an snappy of trot to canter transitions as he used too. But that is okay. We shall play with it and take it slow. I know that getting the rhythm, relaxation and connected at the canter on the circle will be a challenge for us.
Then we did smelling the tail for 10 seconds on each side. Prince did really well. He learned that so fast! Then we did Figure eights! This went really well. Prince again had a little bit of trouble maintaining the trot around the one end but I am pretty sure I know what I am doing wrong and how to fix it. After that we played with the ball! As you will see on the video Prince did really really well and I was able to walk all the way around him while bouncing it, I put it on him, he really liked pushing it even though he had a little bit of trouble because he is rather short and he would push it with his chest/legs but then it would hit his nose... poor guy. He figured it out though.
After that did some other stuff like sideways, jumping, straddling, spins etc and then I got up to ride! Prince did very well but there are some things that I will need to concentrate on next time.We started off with Follow the rail. Prince did very well and the gate was open too! We did lots of trotting and then we changed direction and went the other way. Prince really knows the pattern now so I have to be careful not to over do it.
After that we did some direct rein and indirect rein. Prince almost pivoted a full circle!! He would have expect there was a tire in the way. It wasn't fast but it was a pivot. Then we went and played with the ball! Prince pushed it a long the fence and then it came off the fence he followed it and kept pushing it, I bounced it beside him, then as I was bouncing it I almost stood all the way up on him!! He just stood there nice and still. I would have made it up all the way but the ball hit my stirrup and bounced away. That was okay though because it was a wonderful start! I am so proud of Prince!
After that we did circles. These were interesting. I think I mentioned in my last post that we will circle for a little while and then Prince will head right for the middle, before we have gotten a good circle. Now on the June Savvy DVD Mrs. Parelli said that it is really easy for us to get into a fight with a LBI and that it is better to take the horses idea and then just continue on with yours... i.e. if you want to follow the rail and your horse turns, turn in a full circle the way your horse wanted to turn and then continue on a long the rail. I knew that before but I wasn't really applying it to our circles. So today I knew what I was going to do when Prince headed for the middle. I didn't make a big deal about it and we just did a small circle and kept on going. One time Prince started spinning on his front end, doing a indirect rein basically so I just took what he offered, asked him to go a little bit faster then what he wanted to go and then I asked him to keep on going on our circle.
That really helped. And eventually we got some nicer circles and I asked Prince to disengage his hind quarters, stop face and wait, and then we went into the center. Just like if we were doing a circle Online. Before we headed in the other direction my mom helped me mark a circle because I wasn't really sure where an exact circle was. I knew where I four points were but wasn't 100% sure about the circle. So when we went in the other direction I knew exactly where we needed to be trotting. That really helped me and Prince. It turns out that when we were going in the other direction, we could have stopped a lot sooner. Prince was trotted a pretty good circle, it wasn't perfect but it was good. So this time we only had to do a couple circles before we went back to the center.
I felt bad because if I had of known that information before I started riding circles then it would have saved a lot of problems. But it is a learning process and next time I will know. Another thing that I noticed was that Prince wasn't as motivated to go after we did the circles. Now I know that some of that was because we were both sweating and he was tired but I just have to make sure that we do not over do circles, no matter how willing Prince is to try for me, he still is a LBI (Hopefully getting closer to the middle day by day though) and he likes straight lines. I am confident though that know that I now what a good circle is we shall be doing a lot less circles :)
We ended with doing a weave at the walk, just to end the ride and let Prince cool off a little. I really had to concentrate on making half circles around each marker. That really helped Prince... it also helped that I didn't use my reins because when I would ask him to go I would pick up my reins a little bit to much and Prince would go but be a little bit confused because I was also asking him to stop.... :) So much learning to do!! I do really like it though. It is helping me become a better partner for Prince.
After I got off I noticed that I didn't feel the same as I used to feel when I finished riding and I came to this conclusion... I didn't have the same feeling because I am finally confident enough to solve bigger problems while riding. So instead of loosing confidence when things like the circles didn't work out right I was confident enough to help Prince and myself through the issue. So in doing that I don't really feel the same when we end but that is okay. I am learning... I am outside my comfort zone!!! Which is exactly where I need to be.
Here is the video of Prince and I playing Online:
I will post the Freestyle video when it is uploaded. Because it has been very hot we are dealing with the internet is going in and out a lot so it won't upload.
Naturally,
~Keri
P.S. You might have to scroll down to the bottom of my blog and pause my playlist music, if it is playing so that you can hear the music on the video :)
Beautiful job with the Online in the video. You are an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I like your idea about handling what to do when your LBI comes in too early in the Circling Game! I'm going to steal it..
Thanks for posting!
Thank you! I am really glad that you liked it :)
ReplyDeleteI hope it works well for you! So far it has helped me and Prince. Let me know how it goes :)
Naturally,
~Keri