Andrea and Pro (7/27)

Foam! I got foam! :) I know, Kate gets it like all the time now, but this was our first full-fledged foam so I was really happy about it. I wasn't too sure how the ride was going to go because when I got on Pro was adamant that he was not going to go onto the bit just because I kicked with my inside leg. For that matter, he wasn't too sure he was going to go onto the bit just because I cranked his head around to get him to soften his neck, either. He gave in pretty quickly to the right, but there were LOTS of circles to the left before he got semi-consistent with it.

Once we were walking softly in both directions we moved up to the trot, re-established the softness, and then moved from circles and figure-8's to serpentines. We struggled with staying soft through all the bend changes, but we came around. He also was being a little 'sticky' and not wanting to go forward. Gayle says that all horses become push horses when they're going right, but I'm not mentally (never mind physically) capable of leg to soften, leg to hold position, leg to go forward all at once, so I was sort of wishing I'd brought my whip out to the ring. I guess now I've got his mom's permission to try him with a whip more ;).

After we did all that I did some leg yielding and this is where the foam came in. He'd been mouthing the bit quite a bit during the serpentines, but as soon as I asked for leg yield he turned into a whole new horse. Totally soft, forward, very responsive, constantly mouthing the bit. We got some beautiful, effortless feeling leg yields at the walk and I even got brave and asked for a couple strides at the trot. We'll have to work on that some more, he was a little confused about going laterally at the trot. We finished up with some canter work (beautifully balanced) and did a little counter-cantering on a 20m circle in each direction to emphasize the holding himself up. He got a giant carrot and some paddock time while I did chores, so hopefully he knew he was a good boy. :)