June 26-July 3, 2011
This past week has been a big week! Prince has been out at a friends place since last Sunday and we have been playing and riding every day. To say that I am learning a lot would be an understatement! Prince is getting fit and not even the hot weather can stop us. We are playing with so many different things and trying to take advantage of the open spaces, big arena and round corral but there just isn't enough time to get everything in and not overload either of us! We have done a couple demos and Prince was fabulous!
It has been fun (and very challenging) over the last seven days. Prince has really tested my mental and emotional fitness... and there has been times he has succeeded! But I think the biggest lesson I have learned is to maintain high standards! Still reward the slightest try but don't forget the other two, expect a lot and accept a little :)
Wednesday we went for an amazing trail ride! Talk about putting your principles to a purpose!! We rode for about an hour and a half out and then back again. Cantering up hills, working our way through rocks, boulders, trees, creeks, and then had a blast galloping part way home. Poor Prince, he couldn't compete with that Arab though ;) He tried :) Although in Prince's defense, it didn't take him as long to come down to the halt ;) That is my LBI boy! He gave me a beautiful canter across the field and home and we had so much fun! The only kind of scary part was the wet rock we had to climb up, Prince kept slipping on the way up and a little on the way down. But other than that it was lots of fun! We were both very tired afterward :)
We have also been having fun playing at Liberty in the arena. We have some really cool canter stick to me!!! Also we are getting flying lead changes on the 45ft line, rhythm, relaxation and connection at the canter, follow the rail (getting more laps at the canter), some cool 180's, circles on the outside of the round corral at the canter, sideways box (I love that pattern!!), opening and closing gates, sideways at a trot at the end of the 45ft line, jumping Freestyle (my fluidity), puzzling solving with the ball (Prince is so clever! He figured out how to get the ball unstuck by nudging it with his nose and then moving it a long with his leg before it got stuck again!!) and loads of other fun stuff!
We haven't had much of a chance to play in the round corral but we did get to do some stuff and got some nice circles at the trot with canter transitions along with changes of directions. I shall have to find more time to play in there and find some imagination! I am booooooooooring when I get into a round corral and Prince lets me know pretty quickly ;)
Today I gave Prince a bath after our sweaty ride. Fortunately the purpose of the bath was to cool him off, not to get him clean, because he was instantly on the ground rolling when we got to a nice dirt patch ;-)
This horse is teaching me so much and I am really looking forward to the five day Level 3/4 clinic with Fawn Anderson is the fall! Hoping to be that much closer to filming some of my Level 4 Auditions afterward.
Until then Prince and I shall keep on keeping on and see where we are in the fall. Then the count down shall begin until September of 2012!
Naturally,
~Keri
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