Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Prince: Patterns, Day 3.

June 16, 2011

Today was day three of most of the patterns Prince and I had been playing with recently.
Circles ~ These went really well. Prince was light and he was able to find each lead easily while maintaining rhythm, relaxation and connection. 

Yo-Yo's ~ Prince was light and put speed into backing to the end of the 45ft line! We are getting really close to it being all at phase one!!

Porcupine ~ We did hindquarter and forequarter yields. Four complete pivots each way with lightness and speed. We are playing with distance, hence the four pivots each way, and Prince is doing really well! 

Our Freestyle patterns were great today! 

Follow the Rail ~ Walk - Trot- Canter ~ Prince got it today on the first try each direction. We cantered three laps each way with no corrections. It was amazing!! His canter was so soft and relaxed! No matter what people say I love trotting. Even after I have been cantering almost a year I love trotting! There is something so relaxing about it. Anyway... that was kind of a bunny trail... :) 
Opening/Closing Gates ~ This went exceptionally well. Prince was right where I needed him to be when I needed it but he didn't try pushing on the gate or being to helpful. We worked as a team and we got the job done. 

Circles/Bullseye ~ This was an interesting pattern. Over all it went well but Prince had a really hard time getting the left lead. It took us a long time but in the end he was able to get it and we cantered a full lap before stopping. To the right was easy and it came quickly. We got two laps or so and then stopped. Prince was very sweaty by the time we finished so we headed into the garage to get relief from the bugs and played with bridling! 

Bridling ~ This was great. I took off my hackamore because it was wet and dirty so I just had the bridle on and Prince looked smashing wearing it! He had no problem taking the bit and hardly mouthed it at all! It was really nice to see the progress! We did some lateral flexions and such and then I scratched all his itchy spots for a long time before we headed back to the corral.

Prince is getting in shape with all this cantering we have been doing which is great because I want him in shape mentally, emotionally and physically for September when we are riding in a five day Level 3/4 clinic. Should be fun! 
Naturally,
~Keri-Lynn

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