Prince: Zone 5 driving.

April 6, 2011

Prince and I focused on zone 5 driving this morning. We haven't done this in a while so we started off simple with some transitions, yo-yo's and touch it, then we did circles at the walk, trot and a little bit of canter. My rope handling skills left a lot to be desired and so the rope kept getting under Prince's legs but I was able to figure that out eventually and then I was able to keep the ropes in the proper position!! 

At first Prince wasn't yielding to the pressure from the lines or the halter so I made sure to reward the lightness, especially on the circles, where Prince was having a hard time. With in a couple minutes though he found a nice circle and we got some beautiful circles at the trot with lightness!! Then we added in a couple changes of directions and then I brought him in for a rest. 

After that we played with sideways. Something that has always puzzled me but I let Prince be my guide and depending on what feedback he gave me I tried to respond appropriately. At first both he and I were not getting it but after a lot of trial and error I finally started getting something. I was playing with were my lines had to be for me to influence the proper zones in the direction I wanted and eventually we started getting things figured out! 

Prince picked up on his right away and it seemed so easy once I figured it out! We ended when we got some nice steps sideways in each direction. I sat down on a tire and both of us had a big lick and chew. Then I let Prince go but he stayed with me so I stayed a little bit longer before heading down to go inside. 

Naturally,

~Keri