Ruffian: Relaxation on the circle

January 20 2011

Today Ruffian and I played in the corral. We didn't do a whole lot but we focused on quality and relaxation in everything. So we started out with a little bit of Touch it in different zones. That went well so we then did circles at the trot on the 12ft line. I have gone back to the12ft line while doing circles (1) because the riding ring is still a bit slippery so we can't do a whole lot there and so the corral is the best place right now for doing circles and a 22ft line would just get in the way and (2) since Ruffian has trouble staying relaxed on the circle, he gets on adrenaline and then goes internal while trotting, kind of like what Allure used to do.

I have tried some different approaches so since the corral is way to small to have barrels and all for Ruffian to navigate we are playing on the 12ft line and seeing how that goes. Today was day 2 and it went very well. Ruffian was relaxed and found the rhythm and connection very quickly, almost right from the very beginning!! I asked for two - three circles each direction at the trot with out a breakage in gait and then I asked for a change of direction, another thing that really gets Ruffian adrenaline up and can cause him to go right brain.

Today though it was much better and Ruffian stayed calm and relaxed through out all the changes of directions. It was great!! We ended after we had done some really nice changes of direction and some great circles, and of course when Ruffian was relaxed and left brain :)

Then after a bit of a break and a chance to process we played with backing up by the tail. Ruffian used to be really good at this but then he thought that when ever someone was in zone 4/5 it meant to back up or if I even looked at his tail he would start backing up. It was a lack of confidence issue. So I just spent a lot of time massaging his tail and not even asking for the back up. Now he will back up one step but then lose confidence and turn instead of backing up. So we played with that and when we got two steps of straight back up, we stopped.

Ruffian took a long time to lick and chew, he had gone internal and wasn't moving and barely blinking. But then he slowly but surely came out of it and really relaxed, started to yawn and lick and chew. It was great!

Then we played with some zone 4/5 driving just so that it would be balanced. So that Ruffian wouldn't think that backing up was the only think we did back there :) Like I suspected. Ruffian started to back up a couple steps so we persisted with it until he was able to walk straight, confidently and then stop and stand still.

We ended after that and then just hung out for a bit. It was a nice way to end the session.

Naturally,

~Keri