April 8, 2011
After haltering Prince we headed into the riding ring. Prince was... how shall I say this.... being very much a Left Brain Introvert. He would do what I asked but only put enough effort in to get it done. Nothing more. So we played with motivational strategies while doing a fun little task. The task we were playing with was where you put the rope on the other side of the horse and then ask your horse to follow the feel, turn and then head off on the circle.
Well at first Prince was like molasses in December.... very, very slow but that was okay! I love a good challenge! So I allowed (I almost said "let"!!) him to go slowly for the first one but then I decided on which strategy I would use so get his mind engaged!! After he had come off of the feel I tagged behind him as he left this worked well and Prince started getting more and more interested.
Prince started getting his mind engaged but I wanted to also advance the task I was looking for a bit more speed in the spin stage, Prince was putting a lot of effort into moving off onto the circle by now so that wasn't an issue but Prince wasn't as light as I was looking for when following the feel. So as I asked Prince to follow the feel I used my carrot stick to support his front end moving over. This worked very well and Prince got very snappy!! He put energy into it and on the last one it worked like clockwork so we ended!
Up next was circles!! We did these at the canter mainly but started with some beautiful walk - trot - canter transitions!! I mean these were the best we have ever gotten Prince went into the canter at a phase one and maintained gait for 4 laps to the right like it was no problem at all!! I love how light our transitions are now!! To the left it was the same light phase but Prince had a bit of a hard time maintaining gait because he had a hard time getting on the correct lead. Once he found it though he had to problems maintaining gait and cantered for about 2 laps before I brought him in for a rest... and a long rest it was indeed!
Then we played with sideways at a trot!! Prince totally blew my mind away with how well he did with this today. We trotted sideways for at least 30ft all at a phase one!!! Both directions were amazing and the last one we did Prince trotted sideways with out the fence!! Our fence is not straight, that is another story but it is what you get when you live here in Canada, but it was really amazing because I sent Prince around in a half circle but before he got to the fence I asked him to go sideways, like I normally do, but this time we ended up about 3ft from the fence... and Prince didn't go backwards ;) we went totally straight sideways at a trot :) I was so proud of Prince and so totally happy!!! It was amazing beyond words.
Up next I bridled Prince which took a matter of seconds and then I mounted up bareback to ride. Today I wanted to focus on teaching Prince to follow the feel from the bit. My strategy was to put the slightest amount of pressure on with the reins, attached to the bit, and then support with the carrot stick instead of getting harder with the bit because Prince didn't know what that pressure meant and how to respond to it.
The only problem was that Prince has gotten so light that he responded to everything I asked with out me even having to touch my reins. It was all body.... hmmm I had to change the strategy seeing as this one wasn't working... although I was really glad that Prince was so light ;)
I decided to do some indirect rein and lateral flexions seeing as I could do though with my reins and it not be a phase four. This worked really well and we got some really nice lateral flexions with Prince's mouth totally quiet. Indirect rein was pretty good also. Then we moved onto the nine step back up. Prince opened his mouth and wasn't to sure how to respond to that pressure so I used my legs to help him instead of increasing the phases with the bit. This all seemed to work well so we did some follow the rail and transitions and then ended.
I was really pleased with how well Prince did responding to the bit and afterward I let him lick some more honey off of it so that he wouldn't just see it as a thing to go into his mouth. It was really an amazing session and I went away feeling very happy with the progress we made and things we learned!!
Naturally,
~Keri
The only problem was that Prince has gotten so light that he responded to everything I asked with out me even having to touch my reins. It was all body.... hmmm I had to change the strategy seeing as this one wasn't working... although I was really glad that Prince was so light ;)
I decided to do some indirect rein and lateral flexions seeing as I could do though with my reins and it not be a phase four. This worked really well and we got some really nice lateral flexions with Prince's mouth totally quiet. Indirect rein was pretty good also. Then we moved onto the nine step back up. Prince opened his mouth and wasn't to sure how to respond to that pressure so I used my legs to help him instead of increasing the phases with the bit. This all seemed to work well so we did some follow the rail and transitions and then ended.
I was really pleased with how well Prince did responding to the bit and afterward I let him lick some more honey off of it so that he wouldn't just see it as a thing to go into his mouth. It was really an amazing session and I went away feeling very happy with the progress we made and things we learned!!
Naturally,
~Keri
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