Post by Jess on Mar 4, 2007 20:58:39 GMT -3
An update:
Things are going great, he's really after softening up from being back in a snaffle, I find quite a difference. We had our lesson yesterday, so I'll start with that:
We walked around a bit, and then went out on the rail and into a nice forward trot on a loose rein, letting him hold himself up. Did both directions, took a breather, and then we started *dramatic pause* LOPING. He basically hasn't loped in a couple months, other than a little bit here and there, and plus he haaaates loping in the indoor, he just drags himself around. So, of all things, we were working on a nice forward working lope, as both he and Molly, who was also in the lesson, are both lazy arses.
So we picked up the lope, transitions were ok but need a little work. At first he was lazy and almost trotting. We're working on getting him to respond to soft, subtle cues so first I'd ask him nicely by just squeezing with my legs to get him to move out, then if he ignored me I'd reinforce it with the ends of my rein. Essentially, I used my rein ends so I don't have to use my rein ends. 80% of the time I either hit myself or the saddle pad, what with my wonderful aim, but he still got the idea.
We went twice in each direction, and after a bit he was moving forward sooo nicely and he started responding to my leg aids a lot better. Everything we did was on a very loose rein, and he even started picking himself up and holding his neck and front end up, you could see his little muscles bulging. Then we did a little overbending at the halt, walk and jog, and then cooled out.
Today I did the same sort of thing. Walked him around a bit, took him out for a trot to stretch his legs. He was stiff to the left today, I'm thinking he probably got kicked out playing around or something, but he loosened up a bit once we got going. I worked him on a very loose rein again, basically its making him pick himself up and carry himself rather than leaning on my hands to go around. Again, lope twice in each direction. He was responding even better to my legs today, and was much quicker and quieter doing his upward transitions and was better with setting and maintaining a nice forward working lope. He was really sweaty when we were finished, so I hauled off his saddle, stuck on his cooler and handwalked him to cool him out.
Loves my pony some lot, I does.
Things are going great, he's really after softening up from being back in a snaffle, I find quite a difference. We had our lesson yesterday, so I'll start with that:
We walked around a bit, and then went out on the rail and into a nice forward trot on a loose rein, letting him hold himself up. Did both directions, took a breather, and then we started *dramatic pause* LOPING. He basically hasn't loped in a couple months, other than a little bit here and there, and plus he haaaates loping in the indoor, he just drags himself around. So, of all things, we were working on a nice forward working lope, as both he and Molly, who was also in the lesson, are both lazy arses.
So we picked up the lope, transitions were ok but need a little work. At first he was lazy and almost trotting. We're working on getting him to respond to soft, subtle cues so first I'd ask him nicely by just squeezing with my legs to get him to move out, then if he ignored me I'd reinforce it with the ends of my rein. Essentially, I used my rein ends so I don't have to use my rein ends. 80% of the time I either hit myself or the saddle pad, what with my wonderful aim, but he still got the idea.
We went twice in each direction, and after a bit he was moving forward sooo nicely and he started responding to my leg aids a lot better. Everything we did was on a very loose rein, and he even started picking himself up and holding his neck and front end up, you could see his little muscles bulging. Then we did a little overbending at the halt, walk and jog, and then cooled out.
Today I did the same sort of thing. Walked him around a bit, took him out for a trot to stretch his legs. He was stiff to the left today, I'm thinking he probably got kicked out playing around or something, but he loosened up a bit once we got going. I worked him on a very loose rein again, basically its making him pick himself up and carry himself rather than leaning on my hands to go around. Again, lope twice in each direction. He was responding even better to my legs today, and was much quicker and quieter doing his upward transitions and was better with setting and maintaining a nice forward working lope. He was really sweaty when we were finished, so I hauled off his saddle, stuck on his cooler and handwalked him to cool him out.
Loves my pony some lot, I does.