So, as I mentioned in my comment, Pro hadn't been ridden in awhile. Last night was his first ride in 12 days and he was incredibly good. Very forward (not surprising) but he was listening so it was actually more useful forward than annoying. I had every intention of just walking him around and getting him to listen, but he picked back up almost where we left off so I was "bad" and added some trot and even a smidge of canter work in. We did the big (20m) circle with small (10m) circles to connect him to the outside aids and he was very responsive to the outside aids. Inside rein was just quick little give-takes to get him to soften his pole and think "inside, inside" since he tends to counter-bend once you get him on the outside aids. I tested both of us with non-pulling halts where I'd just freeze my seat bones and ask him to stop. In Kate's lesson Gayle said that only works if you've actually got your seat connected, so I've started including that as a test for myself. He was never really fully connected, but that was mostly me not asking I think. He was being so nice and soft that I didn't want to push the envelope after he'd had so much time off. Hopefully his MSM is helping and he'll stay forward and loose even once he's being ridden more than every other week.
The weather has been gorgeous so I hope everyone has been riding! The rings may be a bit wet, but unless your horse has plaster feet, that's no excuse!
3 comments:
I'm so glad to hear you had a good ride! Pro was a good pony after all that time off!
That's funny that Pro is always so good after time off! That's not normal, but I guess Pro is never normal, huh?
It is weird that he's good after time off...what a silly boy. He keeps telling me he needs more vacation time, lazy horse.
Post a Comment