Prince: Open spaces!!

March 24, 2011

Today Prince and I played with sideways at a trot, cantering on the 12ft line and getting rhythm, relaxation and connection, jumping with effort (Prince will jump and clear the barrels but not all the time with effort so we had fun making that a game and getting him to want to jump higher and completely clear the barrels). We also played with Stick to me and getting Prince more flexible on the right side. Then we played with some yo-yo's, porcupine games and driving games. This spring weather makes me want to get all these back up to where they should be and getting more lightness, speed and distance. I was really pleased with where we ended with them. Prince was putting a lot of effort into moving his hindquarters and forequarters. I was especially happy with our forequarter yields at they have always been a little bit harder but today we got lightness, SPEED and distance. Speed has been the hardest one of the three.

Then we played with ground tying as I had to go get my hackamore and bridle. I sent Prince over to the pedestal and he climbed up and stayed there the whole time. I bridled while sitting down and Prince did really well. He kept his head nice and low and was really soft!

Then we played with yielding to pressure from his mouth and doing lateral flexions, turns, stopping, backwards, and going forward with the bit. I had my fingers on the rings to guide him and that was going well but I felt that I wasn't being light enough so I attached my savvy string to the rings and that worked much better. Prince was super light and we got some really nice things going for us. It will still take some time but things are progressing really nicely!

Then we had a chance to really test our ground tying because I had to help Mom with something and so Prince had to stand on the pedestal while I played with Knightly, trying to help him understand cantering on the circle.

Prince only got off twice. The first time he backed off so I just send him back up lightly, reminding him where he was supposed to be. But the next time when I sent him back up he trotted off. So I kept the pressure on and he went around the end of the riding ring and trotted right up to the pedestal and climbed back up on it. He knew exactly where he was supposed to be ;) It looked like he was going to trot right past it but he turned and went straight to it... what a smart horse ;) It was really kind of funny to see Prince make a V line for the pedestal ;)

After I finished playing with Knightly and when Mom was ready we headed down to the corral, out the gate and mounted up for our trail ride!!

What can I say? This trail riding thing is really growing on me!! Yes, I still LOVE arena riding... RBI much? But I do not like being confined... claustrophobic maybe? ;) So since the only place Prince and I can ride where we actually have space to do anything at the canter is on the trail! So I have learned to LOVE trail riding pretty fast :) Today Mom and I rode the horses through town (we normally walk them Online) we met with a couple vehicles but the horses did well. We had to walk between two buildings, Prince has never liked going between them so I wasn't sure if he would go between them while riding. It was such an amazing feeling though when I asked him to go through and even though he wasn't 100% confident he walked on through the squeeze. He trusted me enough to go through it even though he didn't like it :) I made sure that I didn't force him, I asked and he decided to go because I asked.

We had to stop and play the friendly game with a man hole in the ground. Prince and Knightly both spooked at it, I think Knightly spooked first and then Prince but I am not sure it happened quickly, but I couldn't just leave it ;) So we did circles around it until Prince was able to walk up to it and sniff it. He definitely thought it was a horse eating man hole!!

Then we cantered up the hill (super amazing feeling!!!) then rode down the road all the way to the water treatment plant. We did some cantering on the way down and got some nice lead changes. They weren't as nice as the last time, our transitions down to the trot were a little rough, but Prince got the correct leads each time no problem.

We trotted for a long time and set up for success by continuing to trot until I felt that Prince was slowing down a bit then when I asked for the transition to the walk Prince responded with lightness and it was all at phase one, my energy. I applied this strategy to when we transitioned out of the canter also and so when we came down to the trot from the canter I didn't ask Prince to stop right away but we trotted for a little bit and then stopped. I realized that I have to let Prince have more time to get his mind around what I am asking, so in this case instead of requiring a quick, light, snappy transition (which we will get to soon I know) we will trot for a bit after we come out of the canter that way Prince has time to think about it and I am not overloading him.

We stopped and then the horses eat for a bit on the side of the road and then carried on. We got a series of incredible lead changes on the way back. They were beyond amazing. Prince was even lighter, more in tune with me... it was just amazing. Then had a long rest then walked for a while before trotting the rest of the way home. I wanted to make sure that Prince didn't think that every time we went into the trot on the way home we were going to canter. We trotted a LONG way. Prince started blowing out and lowering his head also. I love that sound!!

 Then stopped and dismounted shortly after because there was a person and dog walking up a head. We decided just to get off because we weren't sure how the horses would do. A few times ago we were walking home through town and a dog lounged at the horses, fortunately it was tied but it was pretty close. So we weren't sure if the horses would be bothered by this dog.

We let the horses stand and look at the person and dog for a little while before and then when they relaxed we walked on. They didn't have any issues after that which was nice :)

There were no ruffled hairs when I took the saddle off, very encouraging :) I think both Prince and I had a blast. Each time it just gets better and better!!! It was so much fun!!

Naturally,
~Keri