So.. my saddle should be here by the end of next week!!!! EEEEEKKKKSS!! Yet... my bosal still hasn't shipped. GRRRRR. Ha ha. Oh well. I did get bigger conchos that match my saddle for his western shank bit bridle, but... I want my bosal!! Oh well. I'm really hoping that we can meet Mr. Mark and his wife at Ashland and after we get our saddles checked and on, we can all go for a trail ride!!
But today, we rode bareback. Again. ;) I did use the western bridle, which... was kind of helpful. It was a good lesson. Liz reminded me that I had to keep my hands closer together and MUCH quieter. Ride him like a fancy hunter... soft, small, subtle aids. And remember... the long shank on the western bit amplifies everything. Granted, it's the softest, kindest, easiert shank bit (supposedly) but it's still got the big curb on it. I was asking too much and not waiting and thus we were sling shotting around. So... soft, small aids and wait. And it worked. And.. use my body too.
We started at the walk and it was already a much better walk. He was more forward and marching with me just keeping my legs softly on vs kicking and bumping every step. When he got too sluggish, an ask... and if no response, a tap with the whip. (or 6 taps.. if that's what it takes to get a response.. because it is Dan). But he was pretty marchy today. He does tend to want to counterbend tracking to the left, so she had me occasionally ask him to put his haunches out and bring his shoulder in. I definitely turn my head to the inside way more on him, so I have to remember to look to the outside (which is actually straight). And tracking left, I can ask him to bring his shoulders around and his haunches slightly out and also use my shoulders to turn to the inside and push my outside hip forward. But keep my head to the outside so I don't collapse in my body.
We did some spiral in and spiral out at the walk and it was helpful to get my body position correct. And it helped me with my aids. I was too strong. It's more of a rolling of my wrist... turning the key... to ask for a turn. And to help him stay up in the shoulders, I can lift my hand/arm and bring it back a hair on the inside. My inside hand should be higher than my outside, slightly. We trotted and his trot was quite nice today! Bigger than it has been. We joked that I'm having to ride quieter on him, like I do with Funny. He's getting more responsive and I'm remembering to be quieter. Yay! I tried to keep my energy in the present... in the space I was.. not ahead of us. Because I tend to throw my enery ahead of me and then my horses have to rush to catch up. So when I focused on staying upright in my seat and core, and kept my energy balls (ha ha.. I have balls) with me.. not squirting out ahead. We played with some straight lines in walk to trot then back to walk to help him learn to balance himself and be responsible for his own feet. He tripped hard once but then he corrected and started to be a bit more uphill. It was hard because when we went down centerline, he did his "trick" of trying to lengthen. But then we walked... and it threw him off. And I was bouncing because.. he got big! But we played with it and it got better. That'll be a good thing to keep practicing. It's like what Jacel was having us do... trot to walk to trot transitions to help retrain his scapula muscles and get him sitting. And same thing, but on the straight line, he can't cheat. And it'll help him lift himself and be in self carriage.
So then we went to the canter/lope. We started on the left lead and.. it was quite wonderful!! It was nice and forward and big and not at all tentative. He felt confident in it! We did the shallow trot serpentine to set him up and then asked for the canter. He was quite good in the circle but struggled a bit more on the straight line. But we had a nice canter. Then we went to the right and it wasn't so great. He fell in hard to get into the canter and then was falling out once we were in it. It helped if I sat more upright and thought about lifting him vs sending him. And it helped if I really focused on looking to the outside and sitting to the outside. But he was struggling today. We actually got some REALLY NICE steps to the right. Like a very correct and lovely canter, and once an amazing depart. But he just can't hold it. He cant do a smaller circle or straight lines and he can't hold it for a whole circle, so we didn't push it. But we did get some really nice and correct work for a short part of the circle. So we'll keep building!
Good pony! We finished with a bit more trot to walk to trot and worked on straightness and it was much better. I need to keep the reins drapey but have some contact/connection. But small subtle cues. It was fun! He looked and felt quite nice and energized. Liz got some video and there's a few steps where he has the most lovely trot! He really was bred to be a nice hunter.
Good boy!
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