May 25, 2011
Today was such a nice day so Mom and I decided to head out for a trail ride. First we played in the riding ring though. Prince and I saddled up and then played with the Weave at the walk and trot from about 40ft away, pushing the ball at the trot from 45ft away, yo-yo's to the end of the 45ft line (these are getting better and better. Right now we are playing with just getting the lightness all the way out to the end, speed will come later), can you tell we are trying to get more and more distance? ;)
Then we played with circles at the canter. Prince cantered six laps each direction with rhythm, relaxation and connection. It took a little while to get it to the left but in the end Prince got it and then we stopped. We also played with jumping barrels on the circle. Prince maintained gait and direction really well so we didn't stay at that long.
When Prince was ready to ride I mounted. We rode Follow the rail bridleless. There were two barrels placed a long the fence about 30ft from each other so we would canter a long the rail and stop at the barrels, I didn't care much for jumping barrels bridleless today :) So after a rest we would pivot on the hindquarters (direct rein) and canter off the other way to the other barrel. I guess we were kind of doing 180's :)
Prince picked up on this really quickly so once we got a few good ones in each direction we stopped that pattern. It was so much fun and Prince was so connected! We went into the canter at a phase one and Prince maintained gait and direction so well!
We also played with pushing the ball. At first Prince would only push it when it was a long the fence and then trot past it when it left so we played with following it and tracking it. I was looking for Prince to put effort into following it no matter where it went.
After a couple minutes it caught on and figured out that it was the same as we do Online and at Liberty and we trotted everywhere following the ball. It was a lot of fun to say the least!
When Mom was ready we headed down to the front yard. Prince and I rode down the hill and backed out the gate then I allowed Prince to graze for a few minutes and then we rode some circles!! I really wanted to canter them because our circles are getting kind of boring at the trot as they are going so well. So after testing the trot first I asked Prince into the canter.
At first he was confused and didn't quite know what to do as we have only walk and trotted circles before. But once he figured out what to do he seemed to just "get" it and we cantered a lap and a half in each direction with only two corrections each way!! It helped that we have certain boundaries such as the house, the rose garden, the apple tree and the swing set by the corral, so we have four things on each side that we can't exactly ride through, although Prince has tried in the past riding under the apple tree while I was riding... but that was some time ago ;)
It was such an amazing and wonderful feeling to finally be cantering circles!! It was wonderful! Needless to say, Prince got a long rest and got to each lots of grass before we headed out for our trail ride :)
We rode through town today and I was so proud of Prince! Even when vehicles came up behind him and in front of him, he took it all in stride and trusted me as his leader. Even going between the two tall buildings that normally he doesn't like a whole lot Prince was confident. I was way more confident also, which I am sure made a huge difference for Prince.
I was in the moment and knew that if in the next moment Prince got worried I would handle that then, but for that moment he was confident.
We had a great trail ride. We did lots of cantering, which is always fun. Prince and I played with trotting really slow, a very slow jog. Prince was fabulous and I didn't need to use my reins at all! It was all though my body!! This horse is incredible!! We have been playing with this concept for three days now and already we can do it on the trail and for long distances! It is so much fun!!
On the way home we cantered a long ways and cantered up the hill. I am not sure if we made it to a gallop, as I have never galloped before so I don't know what that feels like but I think we got pretty close as it was as really fast canter. Then when I asked Prince relaxed into a nice lovely canter. It was soft and slow and we cantered like that for a little ways and then when I relaxed my body we came down into that beautiful, slow jog. It was instantly also, none of that really fast trot and then a slow trot. It was the most beautiful canter - trot transitions we have ever gotten!!
One thing that I did differently today verses other days out on the trail was if Prince broke gait or I asked him to come down to the trot, walk or halt, I made sure that he was relaxed mentally and emotionally before asking him into the canter again. I think this was what made for that beautiful transition into the jog from the canter at the end. Also through out the whole time I would go with stopping in mind, stop with backing in mind and back with the quality of respond in mind. This made a huge difference because when I stopped I was thinking back up so Prince could feel that I meant stop, not like previously when I had a really hard time completely relaxing on our canter - halt transitions.
Oh and on that note! Bareback riding has completely changed, for the better, my fluidity! I can now ride canter - halt transitions with fluidity and not bounce, thanks to focus and riding canter - halt transitions bareback ;)
We rode back home through town and again the horses did beautifully we allowed them to graze for a while and I brushed Prince off and once he was dry we headed back into the corral and I fed the horses.
It was a great session and I think both Prince and I had a lot of fun!
Here are a few pictures from our ride...
Naturally,
~Keri
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