I had a good ride on Pro today. Lately I've been ending with transitions and seeing a lot of improvement from them, so today I decided to start with them and see where that got us. He improved quite a bit, rounding up under me and giving up on his "but it's cold and WINDY" attitude towards the ride. So we moved onto spiraling in and out at the walk and trot. Clearly I need to work on this more because sometimes we'd spiral like 5' when I wanted to just take one step in, but overall it went well. So then I did a couple canter circles and then went crazy on him making him do every transition I could think of. Any gait was fair game at any point. We started with some easy "walk a quarter circle, trot a quarter circle" type and moved up to sitting trot for half to a forward rising trot and even did walk-canter and a halt-canter. Obviously there were lots of downward transitions as well. Pro seemed to be having a lot of fun with the challenges and he handled it all great. Halt-canter was a bit hard and it took about two strides to do a canter-halt, but throughout he passed the test of going right into a lifted back, soft, relaxed trot.
Obviously not all weeks are going to be like this past week, but it's fun getting to throw new stuff at him without being too worried about what he's going to do about it.
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7 comments:
Yay for transitions!!! That's the other great thing about having you "share" Pro - we both think of different things to work him on, so he's less likely to get drilled on the same old stuff day after day. :)
When he's in the right mood, he loves those mental challenges!
Sounds like you both had a blast!!
Halt to Canter is a doozy! You know he's got a good butt when he gets that one!
Transitions are great : )
Hahaha Ellen - sitting is nothing for this horse...a few years back the barn radio fell off the wall and he sat DOWN in the crossties, he was so panicked! He can get that little butt under himself like no one's business. ;)
Oooh, those transitions can be a doozy! Glad you had such a good ride!
I love transitions. Canter to halt, halt to canter are my favs. They really do have to tuck their cutt under them to get those correctly. Its alot of fun.
It is so good that both you and Kate have been having such super rides on Pro! Since I am so far behind in reading and commenting, I hope they are continuing!
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