Anyway- to start with, I saddled and bridled him and asked for lateral flexion from the ground. Then I take the rein on the side opposite to where I am standing and run it around his rump and ask for him to turn and face me. He did fine on the left rein, but when I asked with the right rein, he braced and wanted to just move sideways away from me. I tried a couple of times, and he really didn't want to give me that right side flex.... so I went back to basics and bitted him up on that side.
So my goal today was to get him trotting. I really wanted him to volunteer to trot by picking up on my energy and riding with some life to my body, but no, he didn't offer. So I added bumping with my legs every stride.... made him walk faster but still no trot. Then I added a teeny cluck with each bump, around and around we went.... at the walk.... until I upped the pressure just a bit with slightly stronger leg and louder clucks. He trotted! finally! But only for a few strides, because of course once he did the right thing I stopped the cues. However since I didn't want him to stop, I immediately started in on the cues again. He did trot both ways for me, and I continued working until he broke into a trot a little more readily. He did seem to be a little more reluctant going to the right, really wanting to quit going that way and not even walk out. So of course I stuck with it until he did and then at the end just asked for lateral flexion from the saddle before I stepped off. A couple of times during the session I asked for a whoa and back up, and was happy with how well he did on those elements.
So I think for our next session I will do more ground work and see if I can figure out what is bothering him on the right- when it used to be the left! I'll check for any soreness and see if there might be anything going on with his teeth. He was done in May but you never know, he is still shedding caps so might be something there. He is still staying soft and trusting with me and that is my goal. I'm not in a hurry (getting back to my opening for this post) and I am quite happy to work short sessions with Kai and always end on a positive note. What resistance he shows now is nothing compared to the way he was when I first started.
4 comments:
Don't worry about what anyone else thinks - taking it slowly never hurts and going too fast often does. Making sure you deal with what comes up instead of blowing past it means you end up with a good foundation instead of a shaky one.
He is going to be your forever horse, so I think the time spent is up to you and the more time on the basics the better..it forms a bond between horse and rider. Just my 2 cents worth. I helped my daughter train a three year old... we got her as a one years old she was just about perfect. Then my daughter went to College..I should have kept her:) The horse..of course :)
Hey, the plan is that he's going to be your riding horse hopefully for his whole lifetime, so who cares how long you take to get him there the right way?
It takes the time it takes, this is your horse, not one for a client, and I personally think we rush them asking them to be good to go in 30 days
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