Z and the 45

Today, I took Z out to my front pasture and played the 7 games with an obstacle on the 45'. The circle game was not so great - she had a serious egg shape happening with her pull to the barn. She's also great at changing directions whenever she wants on the 45'. Argghh! :-) I just send her back in the other direction, but I'll talk to Dennis about that on Wed.

We played yo-yo and backed her into the jump. We squeezed over the jump from about 40 ft. I tried to get her porcupine game better by adding driving game and lightening my pressure. That worked very well! (Thanks, Dennis!) I asked her to back up the hill to the 40' mark. I asked her to go sideways in front of the jump, then over the jump.

To end the session, I tied the 45' on her halter and drove her around some obstacles (over a jump, which was tough!) and then sideways against a rail. We practiced going left and right, which is hard on a 45'. The pressure comes under her head instead of from the side, so she has to figure it out. I asked her to trot sideways once I took the driving reins off. It was one of the most interesting sessions we've had in a while. Proud of us.

Tomorrow I'll ride as many horses as I can. The end of the week looks like rain. Want to get Rain and Gemini out on the trail and get them more fit. I want to take a stick and work on teaching my pony horse to be a better pony horse.