Ruffian: Waiting for the relaxation.

December 6 2010

Ruffian and I had very good session, reviewed a lot, learned quite a bit, and over all had a very progressive session.

I brought out my new 22ft line because I want to play with more distance and also because the riding ring looked better than it has been for a long time. We start off on the 12ft line and did some Falling Leaf, jumping and sideways. It was really cool because Ruffian was standing by the a single barrel sniffing it and then all I did was softly send him and he jumped it and cleared it! It was really cool!

Part way through the session I looked at Ruffian and he was either bored, or he had gone introverted. To me it seemed like he had gone introverted but I wasn't sure so I decided to play with some circles and Figure eights next. That way he could get his feet moving and I could assess what was the issue. Ruffian had been doing everything that I had asked and was very light but he wasn't asking questions, which could have been a result of either of the two. So off we went. I put the 22ft line on and we did Figure eights at the trot. Ruffian was very light but the Figure eights needed a little polishing.

The good thing was that Ruffian stayed calm and fairly relaxed through out the whole pattern and didn't get worried because I was asking him to move faster. Once we got them a little better I stopped and let Ruffy have a little bit of time to think about it and then I sent him off again. This time they were much better, I didn't have to move my feet as much and Ruffian kept the belly of the rope on the ground the whole time, while also maintaining gait. When I disengaged him to bring him in his look had changed and he was asking questions!

Next was circles. I sent him off and we did transitions but mainly played with changes of direction. Ruffian wasn't breaking gait and I didn't want it to be boring and I also knew that Ruffian might want to crowd me a little bit so off we went!

I was right. Ruffy would change direction nicely but on his way through he would come in, not a whole lot but enough that I didn't want to leave it. So I really focused on getting his nose and neck over faster. Pretty soon Ruffian was keeping the slack on the ground and doing beautiful changes of directions, with out crowding me.

Ruffian was interested also and asking loads of questions. He was confident and relaxed, while also being light and responsive. What an improvement! He spent a long time licking and chewing afterward and also then fell asleep!

We then worked our way down to the riding ring and I brushed him, (1) because he was dirty and (2) because he had worked up a very little bit of a sweat and I wanted to him to cool down before I let him go. Plus it was a nice way to end the session :)

Naturally,

~Keri