I decided I needed to play with all 4 today. Wow am I tired now! I have decided to work through the self assessment check lists with each horse (why on earth haven't I done this before...) and not just Cam - it is so obvious, isn't it.
I was pleasantly suprised that although I have done very little with both twins Merlot will be L1 in a couple of days if I am consistent, and Shiraz in a week at the most I think. I was suprised there is now no circling in that, but they can both do that to the previous L1 level now. I did find some gaps though. Taking it slowly and working through made a BIG difference to Merlot - lots of yawns and he ended up shutting his eyes and having a sleep. Shiraz is unsure of porky fq and where to put her front legs, mainly because she has a shortish neck/body being small and I found it hard to work it out previously, so did some avoidance....my fault - need to work on that one. It was very interesting the difference between them, as far as incentive goes - Merlot is really purely play driven whereas as soon as I was asking more and the carrot came out on the odd occassion Shiraz became riveted....I am trying to use carrots a LOT less....
I did the same kind of thing with Rafiki - she didn't feel like moving much to start with - that was fine. Think she enjoyed a quiet session. We tried the online 'easing tension' excercise Jackie taught yesterday - she was not bracey in her neck but was very stiff in the body - need to do MUCH more of that so she realises she can bend. Then I did it with Cam - as predicted she was very stiff in her neck, and not as bad in her body. It was getting pretty windy but I really wanted to ride and test out my new balance point position (have been told i was sitting too rounded as in PPL, need to rock forward slightly. So we did follow the rail bareback and OLP 1. I tried a couple of trots but she was feeling a little exuberant having not been ridden for over a month, and I didn't feel like coping with that! So glad she stayed LB and only had the tiniest spook. Progress!! Even though the others were out of sight we had no problem using the whole arena and going into all the corners.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
BIG day for you - esp after all that licking and chewing yesterday..... like Pat says think at night so you can feel during the day....
ReplyDeleteI was thinking what he was saying about emotional and mental scatterdness.... I am not sure how I could tell the difference. I know G suffers from one or both.....esp when out in large groups....
What are the tension exercises?
Make you self assessment sheets A3 and stick them on the wall like mine. Then you need a different colour pen for each horse lol
The 'tension' excercise - actually should call it relaxation excercise, is basically partial disengagement on the ground.You 'feel' your way along the horses starting at the neck, to feel where tension is, and work your way along.
ReplyDeleteyes, checklists - I have one for each horse now, in their 'files' where I record what I do with each one, when ,weather, what I need to do next time etc...aren't I pedantic!!