Prince: Positive Feedback

Oct 5 2010

Today my sister and I went out to get the horses. They were on the far side of the back field in the bushes but came to use when we called. I haltered Prince and I was hoping that the horses would just stay around so that I could quickly try some things in the field but Twosox and Knightly took off and then Ruffian took off at a full gallop to catch up with them. Prince got a little worried but he did really well. We played some sideways and I was really particular about him going sideways and not drifting forward. 

Then we played with downward transitions on the circle by going sideways. I have always wanted to try this ever since a Parelli instructor suggested it to help with rhythm, relaxation and connection at the canter but in our riding ring we don't have enough room so I wasn't able too. Put since we were out in the field we had enough room. I couldn't believe how fast Prince caught on. After just a couple transitions he was able to trot a full lap to the right, at a nice trot, and the belly of the rope was on the ground! It was really amazing! 

To the left was a bit harder but that is Prince's hard side and so I expected that. He tried really hard and I rewarded the slightest try and pretty soon he was able to do the same going to the left. 

We then headed home. We did one line zone 5 driving all the way to the turn around. We did lots of transitions because, of course, Prince really wanted to go home. When we got to the turn around he was relaxed though and we were getting some really nice, soft walk/trot transitions. The really cool thing was I asked Prince to jump the big pile of logs, with me in zone 5. He jumped them no problem and what was even neater was that he stopped on the other side with just the slightest amount of pressure! It was so cool! 

When we got up to the riding ring I set the barrels up so that they would be on the circle for Prince to jump and then we set off. It took a while for Prince to stop pulling but I didn't worry about it. I was watching for relaxation. One time Prince knocked the barrels apart as he wasn't really watching where he was going. I just left it though and he then had to go between them. Which actually worked better than him having to jump them. Prince started putting more and more slack in the rope and pretty soon he cantered 4 laps with the belly of the rope on the ground. Of course, Prince got a long rest. Then we went to the left but Prince had a really hard time even cantering so we played with that. I tried different things like changing direction every time he broke gait but the problem with that was that he was now cantering really nicely to the right and so he wouldn't break gait! He cantered 7 laps to the right with rhythm, relaxation and connection!!! 

So I decided to get our send to the left better. It took a while because Prince would go off, canter a couple strides and then just trot really fast. So I would reward that and then try again. But it still took a long time. I was willing to take how ever long it needed and eventually Prince cantered to the left off the send and he cantered about 1/2 a laps on the left lead and I brought him in and that was where we ended.

Both Prince and I were pretty tired after all that. I was really happy with the feedback I got and hopefully it will just keep getting better!

Naturally,
~Keri