A little liberty

A great liberty session with Z! Played with transitions down with the laser beam, got some amazing trotting circles very close in, a few great flying lead changes, some nice spanish walk (tough at liberty!).

Kendall jumped in with me and I taught her how Z will transition up and/or down when we do (we jog in place, Z trots... we canter, Z canters). She thought that was pretty cool.

Had a fun time.

A great day!!

Spent some time with Nina and her owner. Gave some demos of the things her horse can do and the things I expect. We saddled her, mounted, took pictures, bridled, played on the ground, looked at hooves... Unfortunately, the filly is going to be sold. Wish she could be mine but I just can't justify a horse of that caliber in my little herd. If I had big dressage plans, I'd feel differently.

Then, saddled up and rode Tina. She was calm, blowing often and very responsive. We walked and trotted and practiced lots of turns and stops. She did great.

A cold and snowy Saturday in March

Spent time with Nina, just prepping her for riding tomorrow. Good ground work, looking for positive responses to my body language. She did well, got a little excited but overall, a good positive session. The footing was tough and I tried to keep her energy down so she wouldn't slip and hurt herself.

Tina - I tacked her up and planned to ride her but decided the footing wasn't good enough. Had a great time with desensitizing her to ropes around her hind legs, very improved catching game, extreme friendly, standing on pedestals, figure 8's. She was calm and attentive. Getting on her tomorrow when the ground is more firm.

Zarah - really wanted to ride Z too, but again, the footing didn't support the idea. Played with her at liberty, practiced DE's way of transitioning down (laser beam). She was starting to understand and she was definitely more interested in solving this puzzle than our normal way of doing things. Is it better than how I normal do transitions at liberty? Yes, because it causes my horse to think and solve the problem vs responding the same old way. It's advanced and she needs advanced to stay engaged. Her Spanish Walk is beautiful, need to move it to the saddle now. At the end of our liberty, the cat was hanging around and I put him on Z's back while I talked to Chrissy. For about 30 mins, he curled up on her back and slept, I stroked Z everywhere while she napped and Chrissy and I had a good chat. A great, low-stress way to end the horse day.