Making new Friends
Ahhh.... another great ride today! This morning I went to my chiropractor and got adjusted. Then I came home and adjusted Dan and then let them graze for a bit on the good grass. Then we went to High Point for my lesson (since he got shockwaved Tuesday and I had to miss my lesson). I adjusted a horse first but then I got to ride. Danny was super. I only felt the funkyness in the front a couple of strides here and there, so yay! I warmed him up and got in a turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches in each direction and then did a bit of trotting. Cindy stopped me and said that she wanted to address something that she didn't earlier because he was still a baby, but... now he's not really a baby anymore. She told me about "flipping the crest". So, at a halt, she had me tickle his croup with the whip. The goal was to get him to engage the trapezius muscles and lift his wither and soften the muscles on the top of his neck. It took a few minutes but he got the hang of it. So... then we went to work and when he started to hang on my hands or get bracey, I would tickle him with the whip and he'd almost arch his neck and soften. FUN!!! This could be handy. :) So then we went to work and I still had to focus on keeping my right side of my body from getting contracted. I had to focus on keeping his shoulders in the middle and not flinging to the right. But it was a nice ride, especially when I could get him to lift his withers and engage and be soft in the bridle. We worked on the canter too, which was tough, because we kept getting the wrong lead at first multiple times. Ugh. But we got it... I just need to remember to NOT cross his neck with my inside rein, especially tracking left, and keep it OUT to the side.. more to the side than I think... even more than that. ;) And we got a very nice canter. And when I had him going like this, he was much more in front of my leg and engaged. Yay!! We even got a really nice 3 loop canter serpentine. :)
It was a great ride! Danny was working hard and nice and the results were super! So after we went for a leisurely hack around the farm, meeting new friends. Then he had to hang out and wait while I adjusted one more horse down the road. And then he got to graze at home from 6 pm to 8:30 when he got dinner and turned back out. Not a bad day for him either ;)
Ahhh.... another great ride today! This morning I went to my chiropractor and got adjusted. Then I came home and adjusted Dan and then let them graze for a bit on the good grass. Then we went to High Point for my lesson (since he got shockwaved Tuesday and I had to miss my lesson). I adjusted a horse first but then I got to ride. Danny was super. I only felt the funkyness in the front a couple of strides here and there, so yay! I warmed him up and got in a turn on the forehand and turn on the haunches in each direction and then did a bit of trotting. Cindy stopped me and said that she wanted to address something that she didn't earlier because he was still a baby, but... now he's not really a baby anymore. She told me about "flipping the crest". So, at a halt, she had me tickle his croup with the whip. The goal was to get him to engage the trapezius muscles and lift his wither and soften the muscles on the top of his neck. It took a few minutes but he got the hang of it. So... then we went to work and when he started to hang on my hands or get bracey, I would tickle him with the whip and he'd almost arch his neck and soften. FUN!!! This could be handy. :) So then we went to work and I still had to focus on keeping my right side of my body from getting contracted. I had to focus on keeping his shoulders in the middle and not flinging to the right. But it was a nice ride, especially when I could get him to lift his withers and engage and be soft in the bridle. We worked on the canter too, which was tough, because we kept getting the wrong lead at first multiple times. Ugh. But we got it... I just need to remember to NOT cross his neck with my inside rein, especially tracking left, and keep it OUT to the side.. more to the side than I think... even more than that. ;) And we got a very nice canter. And when I had him going like this, he was much more in front of my leg and engaged. Yay!! We even got a really nice 3 loop canter serpentine. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment