Kate & Pro - Sat, Mon, Wed

WHEW...updates.

So Saturday was quite good. What Andrea didn't write in her lesson post ;) is that Pro had a quick impromptu groundwork date with Gayle in the middle of her lesson. Gayle worked on getting him to accept the feel of the whip near his flank, sort of toward the underside of his belly. She explained that the whip isn't so much a forward aid as it is a "step up and lift your back"-aid, which is why we're using it there. At first Pro just whipped around her at 90mph and tried to use his bendy neck to his advantage but Gayle just stayed patient and kept the whip on his side. Eventually he slowed to a pretty good walk. But she kept it on. I was a bit confused so I asked her why she was persisting and she pointed out what I'd missed - he was swishing his tail. Not angrily, which I would've noticed. But just a swish...stride...swish...stride...swish. She said it was the equivalent of a subtle horsey middle finger. Not a scream of "I HATE YOU" but a very subtle thing. HMM!! This was a lightbulb moment for me. She suggested we start off each ride by doing this. I've posted pictures to help explain what she was doing, since it's tricky to describe. I wish I had video...I was frantically trying to get as many pictures as possible.

So I did! Saturday I started off by trying my best to imitate Gayle. And he was mad. Swish swish goes the tail!!! I kept it on until I saw him walk a few strides without swishing, immediately praised him verbally, and kept it on. Once I had his respect on one side, I switched sides and repeated. Once I got on, I think he was a little disappointed that I still had the whip, but he doesn't freak out AS much when I use it on his belly (under the saddle pad near the back) as he does when it's on his butt. So that's...good, I suppose. Overall it was a great ride once I got him focused. We ended up trotting in figure-eights for quite a long time...I was just wholly enjoying the feeling of a soft, fluid horse. He's getting much better about accepting my hands in the proper place. And once he softens with my hands IN that place, I can totally feel the difference from what it felt like to have him soften and drag my hands down into my lap. There's a stronger "bridge" feeling, like he's working to carry his whole front end rather than drag me down and dive. I didn't understand what diving felt like until I felt him NOT dive. Weird, huh?

Monday I was exhausted from school, so I just hooked him up to the lunge and worked on alternating between lunging and accepting the whip on his side/belly. I think the variety helped him, he was pretty good. It took awhile for the swishing to subside.

Last night I started the same way, with the whip groundwork. When I got on he was fairly resistant, as usual. He always feels like total crap for a good 15min, sometimes 20. But he was starting to throw a fit over the bench. Not acceptable, Pro! Usually when we get into bench fights, he gets hindquarter-angry. He tries to fling his HQs every which way he can and gets FURIOUS when I bring them back to normal. Last night was no exception - I booted him with my outside leg when he flung himself to the outside and he let out a huge buck and tried to bounce up on his forehand. Nope, sorry sir! I made him stand quietly, and then walk on. Sometimes with Pro, addressing the tantrum is worse than ignoring it. It depends on his mood - if he's in the mood to fight (like last night), addressing it just starts a spiral of ugly. I made him walk-halt-walk a bunch and just made him chilllllllllll. Eventually he realized that a nice walk was more comfortable than huffing himself into a tightly-wound ball and freaking out. From there, I was able to get a very decent trot. Working on gently getting the bend to the left also helped refocus his attention. After several good figure eights we called it a night. :)

*****I'm adding lesson pictures to Andrea's entry right now so be sure to go check them out! :) *******