Who bought me a sporthorse???

I no longer own Pro, a 14.3h chestnut Arabian. I own Prometeo, a 16h chestnut sporthorse. :) With huge gaits!!!!!!!!

My lesson on Saturday was great, once we got going. Pro started off very much in an "I don't feel like working today" mode. Well, I was in an "I paid $$ for Gayle to come today, so you WILL work" mode!! Gayle decided to try something new rather than fight through his mood. She brought out two trot poles and made a cross out of them. So the pole that laid across the other pole had one down side, one raised side. She then took Pro's inside rein and helped guide him around and over the poles. Up over the high end, the low end, over the spot where they crossed, etc. At first he was mortified as he stumbled through, kicking the poles and tripping a bit, but then he sorted it out and became fascinated with this new "puzzle". Gayle said it was really beneficial for him, as he had to move his pelvis and shoulders in unique ways, figuring out the poles. He wasn't allowed to shorten his stride and chip before the poles, but he had to be bold and step confidently. Eventually as he got better, I kept mixing it up by asking him to change bend as he walked over the uneven parts and asking him to move off my outside aids as he turned around and walked back and forth.

Here's where the genius part comes in. After about 10-15min of doing this and making it more complicated for him, Gayle had me leg-yield onto a circle and pick up the trot. Immediately, he picked up a forward, attentive trot!!!! I was blown away at her genius. :)

We addressed the usual tricky things - positional things, hands up, not squooshing him with my legs, moving my arms from the shoulders, etc. Then on a large figure-eight at the trot we worked on getting him to fully open up.

Gayle with her usual words of zen - "You don't truly have control until you let go."

I'm pretty sure there's a ton of deeper meaning attached to that. :) But right then I was just trying to wrap my head around it in dressage-terms. Considering his Arab Western Pleasure background, Pro is a SAINT about reaching for the bit. Which he reliably does once I've established a connection. He never reaches for it when he's doing his llama-chicken impression! ;) We're working on transitioning over from an "inside rein fix" to a "leg/whip" fix for dealing with attentional issues. A lot of the time, he gets it! If he starts to pick up his head, the current fix involves a quick reflexing of his poll with the inside rein (not so much that it turns his neck, but just flexes his poll). We're trying to transition him to move forward and pay attention again just from a quick tap of the whip or from the leg.

After a few figure eights, he was moving huge!!! Such lofty gaits, such suspension. :) And being such a good boy attention-wise.

For the past two rides this week I've used the poles to warm up. Tonight, I only needed them for about 5 minutes before he was attentive and on my aids. Hands up, no squooshing! :) It paid off in the trot...he felt so huge. I was talking to Gayle on Saturday about how I feel like he's going to have very expressive gaits that will come out as he progresses. He just feels so sport-horsey! And tonight I was SO proud of him - it was dark and part of our figure-eight was in the part of the arena where the lightbulb has gone out in the light...so he was an attentive, quiet angel, even in the dark! :)

The other neat part of Saturday was watching Gayle ride Gray Horse at the barn - Andrea came too. Gayle lunged her first (stumping us with a surprise pop quiz about the training scale and other such things) and then we got to watch her ride. It was neat, considering how much overlap there was between her ride and the stuff we're working on with Pro. Very educational!!!!