Prince: Playing in the snow!

 Oct 31 2010

Since the weather wasn't very nice yesterday I didn't go out and play with Prince but today it was much nicer and so mom and I headed out.  

We ended up playing at Liberty in the round corral first. I wasn't quite ready to dive in head first... or should I say ropes first, and get all my ropes wet and snowy, that ended up happening though ;) Prince was absolutely incredible!

I wasn't going to ask him to do a lot of trotting/cantering because I wasn't sure about how slippery it would be with the snow on the grass but it was actually fine so we did some hindquarter disengagements and once those were going well and were light we did some circles. We started out with some simple circles at the trot and then I asked Prince to canter, he cantered 4 laps in each direction!! It was to cool!! We haven't played at Liberty in a round corral in... well a long time but Prince was fantastic! 

Then we did some changes of directions which set us up for better Figure eights. At first Prince just thought I was asking him for a change of direction so he would miss the barrel but still do a really nice change so I didn't want to make him feel bad for that so we just took it slow and eventually he was able to get it right. Then we ended. I wanted to keep it short, interesting and end when Prince was motivated! 

We then played Online for a little bit. Prince did really well cantering circles. We are now playing with changes of direction with a drop to trot lead change. Prince is pretty good but he still leans on the halter a little bit before he changes. It will get better though.

We did a little bit of jumping, sideways, Falling leaf and some other small things and then we played with mounting by the neck! It was interesting because Prince and I haven't done that since the spring so we had to play with it for a while. But eventually we got it. It wasn't the prettiest but Prince kept his feet still, which was the hardest thing to get :) 

We started with Figure eights at the trot which went fairly well. Then we rode the Cloverleaf but since I only had the bareback pad on, after a while it got really uncomfortable to sit Prince's trot. So we only did one direction. But Prince did well and for our second day it was really good! 

After that we played with some smaller things, particularly indirect rein with out reins. Prince got so light that I didn't even have to put my leg one. I just shifted my weight and focus and he pivoted a full circle like that in both directions and he was putting speed into it also!! 

We finished by riding back to the small gate which leads to the pasture where Prince is staying.  When we first got here Prince had a huge threshold right by the barn where we had to go between the barn and the electric fence, a long the driveway. He was fine walking up there Online but not while riding. So we just left it because we really didn't have any need to go up there. But today I decided that we would go up that way to get to the gate. We opened the gate in the arena and off we went. Someone of a four wheeler went by and I wasn't sure how Prince would react to it coming so close (it was with in 20ft of us) He was attentive but he didn't spook. Then we continued across the field and over to the driveway. 

Prince didn't have any problem going between the barn and fence. So it either shows how our riding has improved and that Prince trusts and excepts my leadership more, or it is just because Prince had gotten over it. I am not sure but I was still really happy! 

Here are a few pics that my mom took...

And of course a short video of us mounting by the neck... or at least a good attempt!