Twosox: Playing for tomorrow... it works :)

Sept 30 2010

Twosox and I had a great session today and I could tell that our last play session set up for this one. Some things were a little bit harder but Twosox did well and I learned some thing too. 

We started by doing Backwards "S" up the hill and one we got into the riding ring we did a little bit more until Twosox was seeking the slack. Then we did traveling circle and changes of directions. What I noticed was that every time Twosox changed direction he would hit the end of the rope. So we switched to the Falling Leaf pattern and that made a huge difference. Twosox got lighter and stopped hitting the end of the rope. 

Our Weave was much better than last day. One thing I learned was that I had to really drive and draw Twosox with my focus and energy. Once I started doing that he didn't miss a tire! It was a little exaggerated to start off with but I know that it will get more refined later. 

The last thing we did was really fun. It got Twosox interested, snappy and connected. The ball was still in the riding ring and it was by the fence so I sent Twosox off on the circle at the trot and my what was to ask Twosox to stop at the ball, touch it with him nose and then trot off on the circle again, and repeat the whole pattern again. This really helped with our send also. At first Twosox would go when I sent him but he would put a whole lot of effort into trotting so I would go through my phases but then he would go really fast and miss the ball. So we had to play with that but once he started figuring out what I wanted, that he didn't have to leave really fast or scared but just put effort into going and then stop at the ball. Twosox then got really snappy on the send and all I had to do was point and he would trot off. He also put effort into stopping at the ball and touching it. 

Twosox started asking lots of questions and so we ended when he trotted off nicely, trotted with rhythm, relaxation and connection on the circle and stopped at the ball and touched it then asked a question. It was really neat! 

That was where we finished the session. Twosox had a huge lick and chew then I un-haltered him. Ruffian, Twosox and I all went down to the corral together. It was a great morning!

Naturally,

~Keri