I decided that if I am going to have the same bond with Desi as I do with Apple that I need to do the same things that I did with him. So no saddle tonight and I will primarily ride her bareback. I need to know how she feels and how she moves. I know Apple better than I know myself. When we are in a tough situation with a rank horse I have confidence that my seat KNOWS him and that won't be a weak place. I now need that with Desi.
I was expecting her to be more squirrelly but she was MUCH more confident. She was super in tune with my seat and aides. We had a GREAT ride. We worked on those pesky shoulders some more and did lots of trotting. She has the BEST trot! She really reaches underneath herself. I am not used to a horse with longer pasterns and such a long neck.
We really had to work on standing still today. She is a little passive aggressive. She doesn't fight but if she doesn't understand or wants to do something different she is sneaky instead of blatantly rude. I asked her to stand and it was the creeping step away. Everytime she would step away from where I asked her to stand we would hindquarter until she wanted to stand. It only took a few times before she was happy standing.
We didn't work on too much. I didn't want to push it for our first ride.I can't wait to start getting her to use her back and shoulders more. It is strange that she travels so downhill but when she stands she is very uphill.
Saturday:
Today was MUCH better. I still rode bareback but felt more comfortable pushing her a little more.
We did lots more trotting and transitions. I have learned that saying "Good girl" means WHOA and she will launch you right into her whithers. Ha Ha
She really remembered her standing lesson. She willingly stood quietly when asked each time today. Wouldn't it be nice if ALL horses remembered their lessons like this??
We worked a little on moving her shoulders at the trot, she is still pretty resistant but seemed to like it when we worked on the shoulder opening exercises.
I also wanted to work on leg cues a lot more. So we weaved around all the ring obstacles. This is where she shows her gate sourness the most. I cue the turn with my leg and only back it up with the rein if I don't get a response. She was GREAT turning towards the gate but I would have to use the rein a little to get her to turn the other way.
After we finished in the arena I rode out and up the driveway some. She took it ok, you could tell she wasn't scared but wasn't used to leading or going out alone. Then we rode around the barn and back into the isle. It is about time she gets used to the fact that her mom is a little.........outside the "box". :)
I plan on riding her again on Sunday with an english saddle this time.
Hey Kate......I can post without the saddle too. ;)
3 comments:
Oooh! Lots of pretty pictures. She looks like she's coming along.
I second the pretty pictures! A really good description, too. It sounds like she is coming along great! I like your philosophy about doing the same things with Desi to bond with her, and learn her, like Apple! Makes sense, especially sense she is going to be your working partner. How is Apple, too, though?
Will I never live that comment down? ;) As always, we enjoy the abundance of pictures here on the blog. I like your description of bonding activities, and it's great that she has a good trot! One that makes it easy to post without a saddle, cough cough haha.
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