Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Easy Patience with Z

First time with Z in nearly 10 days. She was slow, but willing. We started with some new things int the round pen and I was focusing on patience and giving her time. After my last week at the ISC, I'm studying her behavior more carefully and trying to determine if I give her enough time. We practiced some COD's at the walk and trot. I wanted to try to develop the spin, but her draw wasn't quite good enough. We practiced circle game very close in (nearly touching me) at the walk. I'd like to increase that to a trot next.

I hopped on for some bridleless riding practice. I know I just have to get my video in for Freestyle! We started with isolated ends (extremely nice) and then some sideways (still some forward). We worked on the backup, getting softer all the time. Then, we left the round pen and I just played with focused circles - using a weed as our center. We worked on some transitions (trot/walk) and then I played PPL at the walk around the property. She kept asking if she could stop at a particular point and eat grass. I did not allow it. We circled the round pen, working on canter transitions and a soft canter.

Finally, we went out to the front pasture to practice jumping. Now that I'm leaning back in the jump, I'm much more fluid in my seat and I'm also much more confident to jump higher jumps! yay! Thanks to Kime on that one. I was leaning forward and getting fetal, triggering a vicious cycle of being off-balanced and wanting to be more forward in the saddle. We'll keep working on it.

We ended with UDT while I picked weeds and she ate grass. She was super relaxed and happy to be with me. It was a great session!

Gotta, gotta, gotta get my video submitted.

No comments: