Prince: Bridling, Liberty and more!

February 1 2011

Prince and I had an incredible play session this afternoon. We started out with bridling at Liberty. We started by me just letting Prince lick the honey off the bit. He knew exactly what it was this time and didn't hesitate to get right in there and get it off. So since that went so well I decided to ask Prince to lower his head and I held the bridle like I was going to put it on. Prince didn't avoid it or hesitate at all when I held the bit for him to lick off the rest of the honey. He was actually taking the bit in his mouth part way all by himself. After we played with that for a while we ended on a really great note where Prince was actually reaching out for the bit and wanting it.

Then I haltered him and we went up the hill with me in zone 5. Prince wanted to walk really slow so I took it and asked him to walk even slower, which of course caused him to want to walk faster. I do so love reverse psychology!!

Once we got up to the riding ring we played with some different small things like backing up into an extreme friendly game with me in zone 5 (backing up also). On the first try Prince wasn't sure what he was supposed to do and turned and faced me so we just restarted and this time he got it. I put the rope between his legs so it was going right down the middle under him and that helped also. On the second try he got it and we backed up a couple feet with me doing an extreme friendly game. It was fun!

Then we did Sideways at a trot. Today I was a little bit more particular about Prince's hindquarters being over more. I still rewarded the slightest try but we kept with it until Prince was able to get his hindquarters over more. It was really nice to be able to advance it in a small way and both of us being able to keep our mental, emotional and physical collection ;)

After that we did some close range circles at the trot. Prince put so much effort into doing the circle and the belly of the rope was almost of the ground while he was circling me at about 3-4ft away! It was amazing!

Up next was Liberty!! Prince and I started out with Touch it. Then we moved onto circles. Prince did really well but we needed to play a little bit with maintaining gait. One interesting thing I have noticed recently is that Prince will pin his ears when we are doing close range things at higher gaits i.e. stick to me at the canter and sideways and circles at the trot. It is really interesting because we haven't had to deal with that a whole lot because Prince doesn't normally pin his ears a lot. I know of a couple main strategies to play with to help that though so I am prepared.

Our circles were really good by the end of the session. Prince was connected and maintaining gait and direction while watching where he was going. Then we did Figure eights at the trot from 20ft away!! I was totally surprised at how well they went.

Prince maintained a nice, smooth, relaxed trot and was so connected it blew me away! He didn't hesitate at all when I asked him to come around the barrels. All I had to do was shift my weight back and take half a step back and Prince would come around the barrel and then I would take a half step forward and he would go through the barrels. It was equal on both ends! I was 100% blown away!! Figure eights used to be one of the most challenging things for us to do at Liberty whether it was in a round corral or not. So to get them in our riding ring just like that... it was incredible!!

Then Mom, Knightly, Prince and I played at Liberty together. We started with getting both horses on the pedestal standing side by side. Than we did stick to me along the fence. Knightly was right by the fence then Mom was beside him, I was beside Mom and Prince was on my left hand side on the outside. We started out just at the walk and then once that was going well we went into the trot and did transitions and such, while trying to stand side by side the whole time. It went really well for 90% of the time. One time Prince and I got ahead because when we went around the corner Knightly slowed down a bit but all in all it went really well.

We then played with how we wanted to do the turn to change direction and go the other way. We decided that the best way would be to drive the hindquarters and then bring the forequarters around and walk off. It ended up looking really nice in the end!

Next Mom and I backed the horses out and sent them off around the riding ring. At first we didn't quite know what we wanted except for both us humans and the horses to be able to uphold each of our responsibilities.

At first the horses were breaking gait (from the trot) stopping and turning etc etc but pretty soon I got a really clear vision of what I wanted it to end like, which was both horses cantering one lap with out any more than 1 or 2 corrections from Mom and myself, the horses not cutting corners or running into each other.

It took a little while but eventually the horses would keep to the outside of the riding ring and they stopped trying to turn and change directions. Mom and I each had a side of the riding ring that was our side and so it was our responsibility to correct the horses if needed when they were in our half.

It got going really well and each of the horses started upholding their responsibilities. If we had to correct one horse, the other one kept cantering along. One time though Knightly got too close to Prince and Prince kicked him. After that Knightly kept his space. It went so well and we brought the horses in when they had cantered one complete lap and we only had to make one correction when Knightly broke gait for a couple strides.

When Prince got past my shoulder I brought him in while making sure Knightly kept going then when Knightly got to Mom's side she brought him in. It was so much fun! Both horses had a long rest and huge licks and chews and we ended there. We all walked over the gate and Prince and I opened it then we let them out. It was a lot of fun and once we get better we want to video tape it all :)

Naturally,

~Keri