I had a good chunk of time to dedicate to horses after work today (love those days!) and I wanted to start with Z. It's getting to be the time to focus on my application for the instructor class with Parelli and I have to put a 30 min video together showing my horsemanship. I want to show all the things we can do, with multiple horses, but I also want to finish L3. I've decided to focus on this application video and worry about my Freestyle vid for L3 later. I could probably do it now, but priority should be on the app video.
Anyway, I just love riding Z. She has tons of go, tons of try, and a pure heart. She simply wants to do what's easiest and most comfortable. We did a little groundwork to warm up and she was light and responsive. Then, I wanted to ride her in the pastures and practice transitions. Down transitions are tough for us at the faster gaits. Z was not comfortable with leaving the barn/herd, however. There was a time when I would have made her leave. I'm happy to see I've progressed far beyond that point in my horsemanship and I was happy to work on transitions right by the barn. When she seemed tired, I'd ask her to slowly walk away from the barn - making the right thing easy (walking) and the wrong thing hard (staying by the barn and working).
Sometimes we can leave the barn and hit the trail alone without a single problem. Sometimes she thinks going on the trail alone is just too much for her to handle. I really wonder if it's directly related to the trail ride before. See, our last trail ride was in a thunderstorm and I tried to hustle her home and she got very emotional. She remembers every time she gets even a little emotional and she works to avoid it the next time. She's a very interesting horse - sensitive and emotional.
For our work near the barn, we did canter yo-yos, circles (really practicing keeping her on the circle and riding her straight on the circle!), transitions on the circle, sideways (always towards the barn), disengaging the hind and riding into the trailer (mounted into the trailer!). My trailer isn't very high so I'm trying hard to keep my self safe.
Finally, after about 45 mins, I rode her into the front pasture in an s-pattern and we stopped at a jump. I hopped off, she ate grass and relaxed. I stroked her and helped her feel safe and comfortable. It was a win and a positive session for sure. After about 10 mins (the mosquitos are just stupid today), I hopped on and we walked the long way back to the barn. She was relaxed and left-brained.
Then, Chrissy and Cowboy were ready to have groundwork session #2. So far we've covered games 1-3 and it was time to talk about #4 and #5. Circle and yo-yo. A new student feels very clumsy with the tools in the beginning, but Chrissy's doing a great job of fumbling through it and having some great moments! We covered haltering properly and driving game to keep him out of her space. Proud of her. Cowboy is doing a good job of being her lesson horse and though he gets bored, he still tries to give the right answer. We have squeeze and sideways left. Then, she can start practicing on her own. I think she's ready to ride him, so in the next day or so I'll teach her pushing passenger lesson so she can practice getting her seat more independent. She's on her way!
Steve took some quick, short video of Chrissy playing the yo-yo game with Cowboy and me playing with Z.
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