He didn't get turned out yesterday and it showed. I got a little more attitude from him today than usual. A little head rolling and back humping, but a bunch of tight little circles helped him decide that he wanted to go forward again.
After we got that out of the way we worked on serpentines and circles. For me serpentines do two things: improve my steering skills and get him to pay attention to me. I have a very bad habit of pulling my hand out to la la land when I'm asking for a turn, so serpentines give me a lot of opportunities to keep my hand next to his neck and really concentrate on using my seat and legs.
Then we did a little trotting. He's getting a lot more relaxed now and it's been easier to steady him at the corners so he doesn't careen around them, but we've still got a ton of work to do. Plus it really throws him off when I change diagonals. I have to remember to keep my leg on him when I do, otherwise he'll stop and walk.
Overall I've been really happy with him. He's really comfortable, super sensitive, and has a fantastic walk. He walks the same under saddle as he does in the pasture; I feel pretty good about him being relaxed enough to do that.
A Dog looks up to a man, a cat looks down on a man, but a patient horse looks a man in the eye and sees him as an equal.
ReplyDeleteWow, I like that.
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