Sept 6 2010
Have you ever stopped to think about just how much we do with our horses is a porcupine game? I have thought about this a little bit before but not until recently have I really stopped and thought about if I am winning ALL of those porcupine games.
It takes a lot of focus and brain power to pay attention to whether or not you are winning each game you play with your horses, no matter how big or how small. But it is worth it. As I was playing with Prince today I really tried to pay attention and make sure I was winning each game, especially the porcupine game as it is one that can always be improved on more!!
Prince did pretty good over all but the biggest issue was in our change of directions. They have always been one of our harder tasks to do so when I asked Prince to change direction and he ran through the porcupine game I switched to the Backward "S" pattern and we did that until he was following the feel and putting slack in the rope. Then we went back to our circles and Change of direction and things were much better. We did three or four changes of direction at the trot and Prince kept the belly of the rope on the ground the whole time.
We also did Figure eights. They were very good and Prince was so connected! Then we did Stick to me. Everything was going fine. We were getting some nice walk-canter, trot-canter, canter-halt etc transitions too but then something on my saddle caught on the fence. At first Prince stayed calm but I didn't see what happened and I wasn't able to catch it soon enough and help Prince and so Prince started pulling, bucking, jumping with all four feet in the air etc, he pulled the fence out and over about 3ft and finally what ever was caught came loose and he was able to get away. He immediately turned and face me. He didn't seem to shaken up by it and so my mom and I fixed the fence and carried on. Prince was however a little unsure about going to close to the fence again.
After I knew Prince was okay, and I was okay, I got on and rode. We did some Follow the rail at the trot with my arms folded. I hardly even had to correct Prince! It was fun. Then we did some canter transitions. Prince would canter at a phase 1/2 almost all the time! I was impressed! He is so willing to try. We did have some issues with cantering to the left. He seems to be having more trouble with that these days. He would counter canter a lot... not the most comfortable thing to ride!! So we played with that and just did lots of transitions until he was able to canter on the left lead. Then we stopped.
We also did some other small things like sideways and such and then we rode down the hill. This time I picked the steeper part that is farther over from the riding ring. It was so much fun! We rode straight down and Prince was perfect! We had to stop a couple times because I had to move a branch or something and Prince would stop nicely and softly and then go again when I was ready. Then when we got to the bottom of the hill we cantered almost all the way into the corral and trotted through the really deep dirt/manure part that is hard to walk through let along canter. It was so much fun!!
Naturally,
~Keri
We also did some other small things like sideways and such and then we rode down the hill. This time I picked the steeper part that is farther over from the riding ring. It was so much fun! We rode straight down and Prince was perfect! We had to stop a couple times because I had to move a branch or something and Prince would stop nicely and softly and then go again when I was ready. Then when we got to the bottom of the hill we cantered almost all the way into the corral and trotted through the really deep dirt/manure part that is hard to walk through let along canter. It was so much fun!!
Naturally,
~Keri
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