July 12 2010
This morning Prince and I had a really good play time and ride. I went out with the plan on playing with phases, especially in our riding. I knew what I wanted to play with but I wanted to make it interesting for Prince. So I decided to play with it while doing Follow the rail, something that Prince likes.
But I wanted to make sure that on porcupine and driving games were where they needed to be for us to have success in our riding. For the most part they were. While Prince and I were in the corral we did lots of driving from zone 3 and played with turning, yielding the hind quarters etc. I taught Prince to yield to my fingertips on his withers. He caught on to that really quickly. It isn't ready to test in our riding yet but I think it will be soon. Prince learned it really quickly!
When we were up in the riding ring Prince and I played with yo-yo's, getting them with more speed then we did circles. Prince went off with rhythm, relaxation and connection! I couldn't believe it! We trotted about 3 laps really nicely, we did a change of direction and went the other way and he was the same. So then I asked him to trot a little bit faster but still keep the connection. He did pretty good. Prince went into the canter a lot easier today too. He didn't canter for long but that was okay.
Then we had a lot of fun playing with getting more lightness and speed into our forequarter yields. Which was a lot of fun because I learned that I didn't have enough energy in my body for what I was expecting Prince to do. I wanted him to put more effort into it but I didn't raise my energy enough. Once I did that Prince put a lot off effort into it and was pivoting beautifully! Know when I say more energy I don't mean getting bigger but having more core energy, intense energy (if that makes sense).
I knew that I wasn't doing that while I was riding either so when I mounted up that is what I did. We started off with some Follow the rail, like I had planned. We did it at the trot and did lots of transitions, direct and indirect rein, and lots of other stuff. It was interesting for both Prince and I. I also felt that Prince was putting a lot of effort into the turns. They weren't big and sloppy but tight and fast. It was a very cool feeling!
Then I asked Prince to pivot on his hindquarters and let me tell you, the difference was incredible! Prince was so much lighter and he put a lot of effort into it. It was so much faster then the last time I asked him. We almost did a full spin! We did it on both sides and Prince had one side that was a little bit harder but it wasn't to bad. The cool thing to was that I wasn't using my reins at all! I just had my carrot stick that I used to support but I hardly had to use it. I had to make sure that in my body I did what I wanted Prince to do and that really helped also.
We also did sideways, which was a huge improvement since last time. I made sure I was really clear in my body and Prince got it. I didn't have to use my carrot stick, Prince was just responding to my body and a little bit of pressure with my leg, plus he was putting effort and speed into it! Like Mr. Ron Pyne (a 3* Parelli instructor) said at a lesson day that I went to, "If you get the lightest and speed, the distance will come" Well we are finally getting more lightest and speed and I know the distance is coming really soon!
Another thing that I noticed the difference from the beginning of our ride and the end was that at the beginning Prince was a little non-responsive to the savvy string around his neck when I asked him to back up, normally he is really light but today for would respond but really slow. So I asked him to speed up a little and he just leaned on the savvy string. So I had to support with my carrot stick but that made a huge difference because at the end of our ride I hardly had to lift it and Prince was backing up with effort!
We ended after that. Prince was amazing and I was really proud of him! When I got off I was really confident that our next ride will definitely build on this one... if I do everything the same ;) When I let Prince go he didn't leave me. He just stayed there and even once I had haltered Ruffian and saddled him he still stayed with me.
One more thing... I think I finally found the perfect shimming pattern for Prince! Since it has been so hot Prince is almost always sweating when we finish and there were no dry spots when I took the saddle off after our ride. And Prince wasn't super sweaty either, just under the saddle and girth area. So it was really encouraging!
Naturally,
~Keri
No comments:
Post a Comment