Andrea and Pro (Thurs 7/17)

Attached a picture from last Sun for people to see. :)

Well, I finally got to test out the "new" Pro. I think I confused him by being too different ;). I started out trying to warm him up on a loose rein. By loose I mean that I was at the 3rd rein stop, not the 2nd, which is hardly asking him to go with no contact. He was obviously a little lost without the firm connection to my hands. Our nice, round circles turned into those dreaded eggs. Luckily the ring hadn't been dragged too recently so I couldn't see just how bad. I tried to ride through it but I gave up and shortened my reins and he immediately got more responsive. So I think I'll make that one of my goals, I'd like him to be willing to listen on a slightly longer rein. One thing I was concerned with is it seemed like when I gave my inside rein on the circle, he'd try to tip his nose out into the outside rein contact instead of rounding out and filling the rein out. I tend to overbend on circles though, so I might be imagining things. Bumping the inside rein every time he started to lose the bend seemed to help and I could drop it for 3 or 4 strides at a time and be happy with how he was going. So I think maybe he's still adapting.

However, I was VERY happy with his willingness to go forward. I think Kate's inside rein break-through is primarily responsible for this new forwardness. He'd go at a good pace, though his default speed is perhaps a bit less forward than it should be. When I asked for forward, though, he immediately moved off my leg and stayed forward until I asked him to collect. He was a little slow to collect and come back in balance, so I think that's going to be goal #2. I think I probably let him get a little too forward so he was running more than lengthening/extending. So I'm going to practice with slight lengthening and collecting back, then slowly start asking for more and more extension.

So, the ride got off to a pretty rough start, but I backed off on what I was asking him to change all at once and he was happy to try to meet me half-way, so I was happy with him.