It was pouring down buckets today.
Mud everywhere, few survivors.
We got a slightly delayed start to the lesson today because Catherine had to have some words with her nine year old daughter, who reminds me in many ways of a cross between Katie and Ana. If you can imagine that, some of the more willful aspects of each rolled into one, but she seems like a sweetheart when she isn't surled up.
We took Cypress to an inside cross-tie today for the first time and he was fidgety, I think he felt confined and of course it was a new thing which is never wonderful. We got through it. He was fussy again with the hoof cleaning, but I think that was also due to the environment more than anything.
Walked him up a ramp from there to the arena, they're adjacent, and she was quite happy with him going up it without any issues. I did some of the groundwork we had worked on last week again and even though I forgot a few key things I did it only with harness and rope (forgot about the whip and some details on how to do it) I was quite successful. Until Catherine returned. Then of course it got more difficult, but we added stuff back in and she corrected my technique and it started working great again. Felt very good.
Next worked on picking up the pace and getting him to trot the circles and get more energy into the exercise. That went pretty smoothly, a few issues to start with but again getting on him about what I meant not what he guessed I wanted was the key.
That transitioned into the "circle game", where I got him moving around in the circle and his job was to keep doing what he was doing until I asked him to change. That meant moving around me in a circle at the same pace with me not push or driving or directing, just standing in the center and letting him move around while I moved the rope from one hand to the other, around the back, etc. If he made a mistake I'd correct but otherwise let him do his thing until I moved to have him swing his butt around.
Since Catherine had worked with him on that just before me to show what needed to be done he was listening well and didn't give me many problems, after a couple tries he put his head down and was just awesome.
When we finished with that we were talking a bit about what to do next and some details and he just stood there, the most still I've ever seen. She mentioned how she forgets how good that game is for him, it really gets him into his calm, trusting brain rather than his alert, survival oriented brain.
Put the western bridle on him then and did a little riding around the arena, trying to take those same lessons of leading, letting him continue what he's doing and only make changes or corrections. It took a little while but as I went I had to do less and less to get him doing the right thing. The hope is that I'll eventually only need to use the reins as a last resort and mostly be able to direct with weight and leg pressure. Getting there.
She mentioned as we were wrapping up that I was ready to come ride on my own to practice. How cool is that? No idea when I'll get a chance, maybe a few times in December and early January, but it feels good to be making progress like that.
Comments