Groundwork with Kendall

Lately, Kendall has been wanting to do more groundwork. I think she watches me and sees herself having more of an upper hand with Rain. Today, we seriously got started. We've tried a couple times before and she usually goes angrily marching off for one reason or another. One day, a little mud got on her pants. Another day, she refused to use the stick and again went angrily marching off. It takes a serious amount of patience on my part, but I'm willing to do it. However, she's got to listen to me and do what I ask so I can keep her safe. She's got an 1100lb animal at the end of a rope and I can't risk her getting stubborn and willful.

We started with games 1-4. Her friendly game is much better than it was. She's getting better at using the stick and string. We tried some porcupine and Rain was way interested in eating grass. I tried to help Kendall not get too frustrated. She actually did very well! Then, we did the Driving game and Kendall was awesome at that. Finally, we did a little yo-yo and again Kendall and Rain looked really great.

We'll do more games when she asks.

Then, I took Z off and did a little trailer loading, some circle at the canter on teh 45', squeeze over a 3ft jump and some flc's on the 45'. She had a ton of energy and she galloped her circles a bunch. I just can't remember seeing her go that fast on a circle. I was shocked and had to laugh.

Riding into the sunset

Tonight, I managed to get both Z and Rain tacked up and ridden. The shorter days are making it harder and harder. I started with Z and took her into the arena. We worked on more of our 1 million transitions, corner game, some sideways barrel to barrel, some figure 8. It was quick and I hated to feel like I didn't have much time, but that was the way it was.

Then, I took Rain in the arena. It was the first time in eons since I'd asked Rain to do something in an arena with me on her back. I wanted her to follow the rail and maintain gait. Both needed practice. I was riding her in an english saddle and I'd set out thinking to work on longitudinal flexion. She wasn't ready for that, so we went back to more basics. It felt good to ride her and I forgot how fast she can gait down an arena! It made me giggle!

She wanted to do the right thing and she felt a little energetic. I didn't want her to feel criticized but I realized I must of made her feel that way a lot when I was using her in L2. Sorry, Rain. I'm better now.

I also worked with both mares on bowing. Rain was able to bow quite nicely, but she's not holding it for long. We'll keep building her length of time in that position. Proud of her. Z is nearly down in the bow. Cool! I'll try to capture video and put it on my youtube page.

The sun was gone and I had to get chores done and spend time with kids. I could have done more... hours more. That's why I need 3 horses.

Stealing Time

I managed to get out with Z today for a couple hours. It was my first time getting out with her in a week because of work travel. We worked on more transitions. We practiced backing. Z used to have a great backup, and all of a sudden it stopped working. Together, we were able to get a soft feel back in action and a much better backup.

We rode in the front pasture and played figure 8 with 2 trees. We did 5-step canter transitions and worked on trot/canter downhill. We practiced circles and we need to keep working on them. They aren't very round. :-p

I loved spending the time and she seemed pleased to. I can tell by how much she things about the barn or the herd. When I'm doing well, she doesn't think about them and stays in tune with what we're doing together. Love it.