Sept 20 2010
This morning I played with Prince first. I sat in the manger and just hung out for a bit before haltering Prince. We played with some small things too, like sideways towards me with just my body suggesting it and some other things which were really fun.
Then we went up into the riding ring and we played with yo-yo's for a while. Just getting them lighter and a little faster. We had them really nice but I slacked off a little and so we had to fix them. But once that was going better we then did circles. Prince trotted some really nice circles to the left at the trot. He was so connected and relaxed!! To the right he did well too but they weren't quite as nice as the ones to the left. We also played with our trot to canter transitions. I only had the bareback pad on Prince because I wanted to still ride but I wanted to see if my saddle was causing any of Prince's problems with picking up the correct leads.
They still weren't perfect but Prince did have a lot easier of the time getting the right lead. He cantered some nice circles to the right also. The left lead was a bit harder but Prince got it after a bit and cantered two laps to the left before I brought him in. So I am still not sure if it is my saddle or that Prince was just more relaxed and was able to get the correct leads but I will continue to test it.
After that we did some Falling Leaf and then we rode!! I mounted Prince from the ground again. This time it was a lot better. Still not perfect better :) I gave my youngest brother a short ride first. We rode around double with M2 in front of me. We did some Follow the rail and we also went and stood on the pedestal. Then I jumped down and M2 trotted for the first time!! He did so well. He didn't even bounce!! I was just a little bit jealous!! Well... not really but I sure would have liked to have been able to ride a trot that well when I started!! :)
After M2 got down I jumped back up again and Prince and I rode around brideless with two carrot sticks. He did well and we had a lot of fun!! We started with Follow the rail including small circles at the walk. Prince did very well again and responded to just my body. Then we did some sideways which was really amazing. At first Prince wouldn't really go sideways but would creep forward... his hindquarters were lagging, or his forequarters were running a head. So we played with that and I had to make sure that my body was in the correct position and then Prince got it really fast. It was pretty neat!
Then we played with backing up with just my seat. Prince got so good that at the end he backed three steps backwards with just my seat, no legs or sticks!!! It was soooooo cool!! I was surprised at how fast he caught on. It was incredible!! We then went and rode a Weave pattern at the walk and for 90% of the time he was responding to just my body and it was just on the ends a little bit that I had to support a little bit with my carrot sticks. I really feel that both Prince and I finally "got" it and now we are making leaps and bounds in our riding, things that we had been having a hard time with are now falling into place. I am so proud of Prince!!
We ended with me dismounting over Prince's neck. I asked him to lower it and I slid off. He did so well!! It wasn't quite as smooth as I wanted but that was my fault ;)
Prince stuck with me even after I let him go so we played at Liberty for a couple minutes. We played with Stick to me and we got some really nice trot to canter transitions!! Prince picked up the correct leads on the second try and coming out of the canter he was relaxed and soft. It was really amazing!
Then we did sideways towards me, Weaving and Figure eights. Prince did a great job on the Figure eights. He didn't even try to leave! Which was really cool! We did a couple and then stopped because they were just amazing.
Even after I opened the gate Prince still didn't want to leave so he stayed with me for a bit and then Twosox came into the riding ring so I let him into the side strip of grass to graze and then went to play with Ruffian!!
I was really happy with this playtime and ride. I can see that it will take some effort on both Prince's and my part to get the cantering right but I think we are both up to that challenge!! The main thing I want to remember is to not knock the try out of Prince. He is so willing to try and I have to remember to expect a lot, except a little and reward often!!
Naturally,
~Keri
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