Prince: Saddling, shimming, and snow!

March 13 2011

Today I just had to play with Prince! I normally do not play on Sunday's, other than feeding and maybe some undemanding time. But usually I take the day off to rest and get some other stuff done inside (normally things like catching up on emails and blog posts) but today I didn't have any of those to do and the sun was shining, it was warm out, I just had to go out and play with Prince! 

It took me a little while to actually get out but I finally got out at about 4:30pm. I really, really wanted to see how Prince would do up in the riding ring with the saddle on and being able to move him around more than what I was able to do on Friday. I saddled in the riding ring and then we were off! We did some porcupine games, things like hindquarter yields and forequarter yields then I noticed that Prince was avoiding my hand when I went to touch him on his face I soon found out that there definitely was a broken Friendly game there so for the next little while we played with that, I would bring my hand with energy towards Prince's face but then just rub him. We kept doing this until Prince was able to keep his head still and not feel the need to move away. 

Then after that we did some circles! These were fun because the snow was really deep. I sent Prince off on the circle to the left and after a couple laps at the trot he started blowing out and stretching!! He only stretched a very little bit but it was still a stretch!! It was so wonderful to hear him trotting around blowing and blowing and blowing!! Then to the right he did the same thing. 

After that we played with our changes of directions. These needed some help, serious help. We haven't played with them in a while (okay a long while, but winter is like that here in Canada) After three changes of directions Prince started to get snappier and more responsive. The last two where much better. All I had to do was turn and back up a step and Prince turned and changed direction. 

We also did some cantering on the circle. Prince had a bit of a hard time cantering in the deep snow but over all he did really well. He kept the rhythm, relaxation and connection for the majority of the time.

After that we ended because it was getting late. So we went down to the corral, out the gate and over to the garage to unsaddle. Monday and Tuesday are supposed to be really nice out so Mom and I are hoping and planning on trail riding both days, Lord willing. It should be a whole lot of fun!! 

Naturally,

~Keri