I wasnt able to post when I rode Wednesday, and I didnt ride this weekend because of an out-of-town wedding. So my post will be of Wednesdays ride and todays ride.
Wednesday
He was really good. Very soft and supple. I worked alot on flying changes and they went pretty well. He LOVES doing them, so most of the 'work' we did, was trying to stay at a steady pace, and not changing before I ask. If we work on the changes, and go across the diagonal, sometimes he will change when I havent asked yet.
The half passes are getting better and better. They are more difficult to do at night because only 3/4 of the ring is well lit, so I try and stay out of the darker part. This makes it harder to start down the centerline, do the halfpass, and be done before the dark part of the arena. On the upside, this has forced me to learn to be ready to do them right as I hit centerline with little time for error.
Today
He wasnt as good today. The other girl that rides him doesnt ride him very hard, so when Im out of town, and she rides him, he doesnt get worked as much. He wanted to rush through everything, and poke his nose out. Even when his nose was in, he wasnt soft and supple.
After the tests, we worked on halt to canter, canter to halt. We did a 20 meter circle and I cantered half the circle, and halted on centerline, and repeated. The transitions became alot better. To the left he doesnt pick it up as fast, so we worked that way.
The last ten mintues of the ride he finally gave up and stopped rushing/poking his nose out, etc. What a great ten mintues we had too. The half passes were really good. Probably the best so far! There we alot of distractions too (hammering inside the barn, several teens talking and laughing beside the ring). We ended on that note and I cooled him out, sponged him down, gave him his treats, and put him to bed.
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4 comments:
Do you have another half-lease person for the fall yet? Sounds like both rides were great though. :) Does he not like the dark end of the arena?
It does sound like you had good rides! Yay for the half passes!
Kate-No other half lease person yet. You know how picky Jennie is on who rides him. So Im the only lease person for now.
He starts to get very looky in the dark part, so I try to stay out of it if possible.
Those sound like fun rides...half passes and flying changes. I hope to get to that point w/ my new beast one day!
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