I'll start with some video from the first day.
In this video, when Jim is saying "to me" he is asking them to cut across the circle when Rio drops out of lead; then to go back to the big circle once he corrected. This exercise was quite effective in helping to build consistency and confidence.
They worked on the same thing the second day, and Rio showed improvement. I did video it but the focus was off so I didn't put it on You Tube. Rio would push to the outside of the imaginary perfect circle, and every time he did he would change the lead behind, which in turn gets him worried, and it all falls apart. So the thing we need to do is keep him in the circle, and just before he gets to the spot where he falls out, to cut into the circle, keep him correct and send him out again. It's a lot of work, but it is working to keep him from falling out of lead.
There was also some work on sidepassing and the turnaround. For the small amount of riding Rio has, he's doing well on these.
This is from the first day:
And another one from today:
I have also entered this duo in a one day clinic on Rio's third birthday, April 10th.
Lotsa work, huh Rio?
13 comments:
well done Shayla and Rio, good minded boy. Seems he is doing very well for the amount rides!I bet he will improve in leaps and bounds the more time you ladies get to ride hime
Looking good... accomplished a lot on him in just a few days!!!
He's coming along nicely. He seems to have such a cooperative, sweet spirit. Even though he went "bleh" at the end! LOL
Even though i am 12 years old and a English rider i think that Western looks like a lot of fun and your horse is amazing and you are so talented.I love your blog.
Katie.
looks like quite the clinic, bravo to both of you for working together so hard as a team!
To new commenters Team Titan and Corinna Charlton, welcome aboard! Just to be clear, the young lady in the photos is not me, it's Shayla who is a half owner of Rio. She will be doing the majority of the riding and training on him, and if you want to, you may direct comments to her right here in the comm box. She reads every post!
Magnificent horse! imagine him at a full run!!
He looks really nice Shirley and Shayla.
I see what Jim was seeing when he would start saying, 'To me'. Rio is just kicking that hip out a little bit and it's effortless for him to change, so he does. It's pretty common for big colts like him to have that happen.
Shooter is having a bit of the same problem going to the right. He might have done it anyway because he is big and long-bodied, but in his case it's because he favors the left lead (the leg he injured) and his hips aren't equally strong.
Another exercise that helps teach them to keep the hip in is to ride him at an angle toward the fence and really push that outside hip in, then ask for a lead departure. If Shayla can't feel when it comes in, you could watch her Shirley and when you see that outside hind leg really come up and reach under him tell her to depart. Shayla will get the feel of it pretty quickly and then when she is loping him and feels that hip start to cant out, she can push it back in before he switches out.
He's not even three yet? Wow... ummm I'm quite a slacker, my boys both had 30 days on them this past fall before being kicked out to pasture again (they'll be 4 this summer).
Thanks for the tip, BEC. Picking up the correct lead is no problem, but anything that can help him keep that hip in place will help. I wonder if more work at the walk moving that hip will help, because he would have to arc his body and one thing we found when we put him back into work a couple of weeks ago was that he seemed too straight in the body, no bend. We've been working on it, so we might be on the right track.
I would say you are on the right track. It just takes time with these big ones. I can definitely see what you explained about his desire to want to travel straight in the body. Same problem with Shooter. As Rio progresses, he will probably need a fair bit of gathering up work. Stops, start with crossovers and progress to rollbacks and then asking him to lope off. That will help him learn how to lift his front-end up, raise his back and load his hocks better. When their backs are lifted and their hocks are loaded, it's easier for them to hold that lead and then they start getting stronger.
I just wished Shooter was traveling as well as Rio. Shooter has gotten mature now and is really, really laid back. That injury couldn't have come at a worse time for him because he was just starting to 'get it' when it happened. Now he's like, 'Meh, I don't really feeelllll like doing too much.' and he makes me work to get anything out of him and then he gets pissy because I'm getting after him and he has gotten s.t.r.o.n.g.! It's a good thing he is too lazy to do more than give me a couple of rocking horse bucks around the round pen. LOL
I didn't realize how young he was! He is such a nice boy :)
Post a Comment