Tina at the canter

Gem - hard session for him in the front pasture building his circle game and maintain gait. I pushed him quite a bit from the ground, asking for energy and responsiveness. This was a great session for both of us, really. He needed me to step up my leadership. I need to be sure my timing is right so that I'm not simply making him hyper-sensitive to my ask, but asking for thoughtful responsiveness.

Tina - rode really well. Used western saddle for the first time in a while. Cantering - she needs time to develop that better and get more balanced.

Rode Rain for a short session in the playground. I got her to stand on the bridge finally. Trimmed her hinds. She took a pic with steve for steve's company - kinda cute. Steve sat on her bareback with his laptop in his hand for an advertisement.

Group Lesson with Kime

Good day of instruction with a group of friends. This was session #2 of a 3-part group lesson. Gem was interesting today. Some respect issues are arising with him. I'm not getting enough play time with him and it's showing.

Syncronized riding - we rode in a group from 2 - 5 horses doing syncronized riding. It's amazing how good this is for human and horse. It gives us purpose and it teaches our horses to focus on their rider versus the horses around them.

leap frog - a few of us played this with obstacles. Very fun and great for transition work.

canter departs - worked on getting canter departs from the ground with Gem. This was where his lack of respect showed. We did finally get some nice ones from a halt and Kime had me apply the back-up to "wind him up" before sending him.

Kime wants gem farther away from me when we're online. I've been keeping him closer as I'm working on prep for liberty. I forgot to ask her why this is so important to her at the moment.

Gem and I did great figure 8's at the trot with no obstacles - this was our highlight of the day in my mind!

Maintain gait at the canter - we can't even get 1 lap. We have lots of work to do on him understanding his responsibility. Nevertheless, I'm having a challenging but fun time with this horse.

Trims and Playtime

Reka in the round pen. Soooo good! dropping her head, yielding with porky, catching game.

M - wow, huge changes. Figure 8 at the trot - beautifully done. S pattern, sideways, conversations with energy, squeeze game. Wonderful, soft and fun session.

Trimmed Z's hinds. Negative palmar angle. started to rasp the toe callous, which is risky and something we don't do as trimmers but needed to bring her angle back.

Great, calm wonderful day.