Monday, July 14, 2014

SOOOOOO nice!!

Okay, unfortunately no pictures or videos, but... SQUEALS!!!! This kid is gonna be SOOOO much fun and soooo nice! I really wish I had video, but oh well.

I rode Fleck and then hopped on Dan afterwards. I decided to take him up to the jump ring so that I could try cantering in the ring. Peri came up to watch and took her mare along so they sat on the outside of the ring. Danny was great! He occasionally dropped a shoulder and tried to squirt out but more half-heartedly than anything. We worked on walking and leg yielding and he's definitely getting it. We even tried leg yielding at the trot and he got it some of the time. Then it dawned on me that it's probably hard enough to trot with a rider, much less go sideways. Baby steps Holly.. he's still a baby! We worked on our transitions within the gait too, and he's still very responsive to my seat and core aids. We even trotted some poles! And quite nicely too. We also worked on square halts. 

Peri reminded me that I needed to start asking for what I wanted now. In other words, teach him to halt square now so it becomes a habit. Like Beth said, All the things that bug me with Fleck....don't let Dan learn to do those things. (Ha, like anything Fleck does bugs me.. but I get her point). So, we worked on square halts. 

Then we decided to try a canter. And lo and behold, we got it. It was lovely!! The nice rocking horse canter again - not the XC prelim canter ;)! Yay!! I even got both leads, though I'm not entirely sure how. I was laughing at him because as we were cantering on the right lead (whoo hooo.. that's the hard one), I saw him eyeball the sprinkler as we came up to it. Sure enough, head down and buck! He hee. Goof. At least he's just playing. I hate to squelch that because it's good natured. But once it becomes more than an occasional happy buck, it's time to lay down the law. But so far, just having fun. He carried on and the second time around, he didn't spook at the sprinkler. 

Yay!!! Peri said he's really a nice mover too. Oooooh, I so can't wait to see how he progresses. Hopefully I won't mess him up too bad. 

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