August 24 2010
So today I had the chance to put my own words into practice and not let some things that didn't quite go right in our playtime to make the whole thing seem bad. Let me explain... our riding ring is about 55ft by 100ft, give or take a little. We made it as big as we could but we live right on part of the Canadian shield and so we have.... how do I say this, A LOT OF ROCKS!!!! So when we were building our riding ring we went as far as we could. Some of the posts are about 4 inches in the ground and cribbed. Now all that so say that it was the perfect size when there was two of us playing in Level 1, on 12ft lines and not doing a whole lot of fast pace stuff. But get two humans and horses in there, cantering around Online on 22ft lines (there is not enough room for the 45ft line) and doing lots of stuff it is seeming smaller and smaller each and every day.
Then normally we are okay while we are riding. Mom and I kind of work it that when she is doing something bigger, like Follow the rail, I am doing something like sideways. That was we stay out of each others way. But even now, since I am cantering more and more we are running into each other and it is hard. So all that to say two things.... all you guys out there that have big arenas, for my sake never take them for granted. And two, today while Prince and I were playing, the RBI side of me came through and I felt very claustrophobic!
Our playtime started off really well. Prince cantered 6 laps each way with connection for the most part. I was really happy with that. We also did some transitions, and changes of direction. We also did jumping, sideways, Touch it, a little bit of zone 5 driving, and Stick to me at the walk/trot/ and canter. One thing I noticed was that when we went into the canter Prince would canter really fast... so I started thinking, what am I doing? I realized that he was just copying me. So I started cantering slower in my body and guess what?!? Prince started cantering slower. You never would have guessed right ;) To the left was a lot easier and Prince caught on quickly but to the right Prince still sped up so we shall have to play with that. One other thing I noticed was that Prince picks up the left lead a lot easier than the right. Hmmm.... now interesting. So when Prince is going to the right, if he goes calmly into the canter he will get the right lead but if he speeds up into the trot first and then canters he will counter canter.
What came to mind as I was playing with Prince today was one thing Mrs. Parelli said at the Ohio Celebration... "It is a change of gait, not speed". Interesting eh? So that was one thing I played with, and am going to continue playing with.
After that I got on and rode. We started off with some Follow the rail, using just a savvy string and carrot stick. I couldn't get over how light Prince was! It was like he was a totally different horse! Hardly ever did I have to use my carrot stick. We did half turns, full turns, transitions and lots more. Then we played with sideways. Prince does well once we are going sideways but the hard part for him seems to be getting going. He tries but we are still having some trouble. I think we are on the edge of getting it though. We shall just keep playing with it.
Where things got a bit more "How interesting/ Oh boy" like was when I asked Prince to canter. The first time he offered to canter!!! Which totally shocked me but I reward that and we had a nice little rest. Prince would go into the canter pretty well and would canter nicely but there was something in my body that just wasn't right. I am pretty sure that it has something to do with the fact that my arm, back and leg are out of line and so I am hoping that once I go to the chiropractor in Thursday it will be easier. I just can't explain it so hopefully that will be the answer. Prince was trying really hard but I was getting it wrong. After we got some nicer trot to canter transitions I decided to end there.
Then we went and did some circles. I am not sure if it was me not getting it right or Prince trying to hard but I think it was a combination of both. I was having a really hard time focusing and Prince was offering really small circles and so everything didn't go quite right. Hopefully next day it will go better.
I think part of the issue was that Prince was just so light and I am not used to that. He was responding so well and so I really had to get lighter because he was over responding, well he was doing what I was asking but I didn't know that I was asking for it ;)
The last thing we did was we played with our trotting. Prince would trot really nice and relaxed along the rail and then on the ends he would speed up really fast. So we tried different things but nothing seemed to be working. Once it got a little bit better though I got off. I needed to get some new strategies and it was getting hot and we were both tired :)
What added to the whole thing was the fact that we were basically going in circles because of the size of the riding ring. So both Prince and I being who we are, that got really tiring after while... not to mention boring. Plus we were trying to not run into mom and Knightly.
I have a lot to think about but I am confident that I will learn a lot from this session and be better prepared for our next one.
Naturally,
~Keri
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