I've been very slack with updates on Tino. Thankyou to his owner for taking some video of him and sharing with me so I can post here. This was a couple of weeks ago now. And we have canter established now to. But here is an update so you can see how he's going. He has lovely paces, a little on the lazy side but he is honest and tries his best. Goes nicely into the contact, make a nice dressage horse to I reckon.
Pumpkin today. We have now got canter undersaddle, however starting the canter work apparently also meant another chapter in the encyclopaedia of avoidance strategies. But today was greatly improved and pumpkin was actually working with me. She had already done her workout before I had Rose video so she was a little resistant to doing more but she didn't give to much, so hopefully now we can really tidy things up and get her going nicely.
Tino had his first ride undersaddle today. He did so well. This was right at the end he had already made his way around the arena before Rose came up to video. Great effort from him today. He had some body work done during the week which has made him much more comfortable and his lunging is coming g along well now to as he is now able to pick up both canter leads.
Progress on Pumpkin, this is today's ride. Starting to get moments that are nice in the trot now as well as the walk. Slow progress with this mare, she's very intelligent, picks things up quick but has also read the entire encyclopaedia on avoidance to doing work strategies and has tried every single tactic to advoid even walking in a straight line😳. No nasty though but she's certainly had me working. As she is getting stronger though she is starting to find the work easier and I am keeping sessions short, just long enough to build muscle but not enough to make her to tired, she's still young so she is still having growth spurts and it is hard to get your butt under you when it's taller then your front end. At least now though the saddle doesn't end up on her neck as her shoulders have gotten bigger to stop that happening. Once we have exhausted her list of tricks to get out of trotting a straight line and she's doing that nicely, she'll be ready to try canter which she is well and truly ready for balance wise on the lunge but I need more forwardness in the trot to get canter under saddle. She's going to be awsome when she's done but she's certainly keeping me on my toes🤣
Well it's taken a while, but today was the 3rd time I have sat on Pumpkin. Pumpkin was very nervous about taking weight on her back so it took an extra week of work teaching her how to hold her body posture to carry a rider and the extra week allowed her to also get stronger in her back. Didn't help she also had a big growth spurt in her second week and it took the rest of the week for her shoulders to catch up. Meanwhile the gear I had that fit her no longer did and it took quite a bit of trail and error to find a saddle/ corrective pad with different shims and girths to get a saddle to fit and not slip forward. So slow and steady with this one and she is now relaxed about having me on her back and trying very hard to do as I ask her to. She is not yet confident in walking around, she is still a bit unsure of what she's to do. But better today then yesterday as today she actually took more then a few steps before stopping and her confidence will continue to grow each time.
Left canter achieved and she did so much better when I rode her today.
It's been a while since I've had someone to video for me so I grabbed the chance yesterday to get some to update on Cookie. Trot work is coming along really nicely, and today was the second day starting to train the canter transition. In this video she gave the wrong answer to the canter aid😂 doesn't always go totally smoothly but in the next to videos I post as Facebook won't let me do it in one she gets the canter.
And we finished today with Cookie's first steps undersaddle. She did great we went for a little plod round the arena with some basic turns and will build on this in the coming days.
Since Facebook seems to now only be allowing 1 video per upload, today's groundwork.
Been a bit slack of late in the video/photos documenting of the horses progress so as it's start of holidays and my kids home thought I'd get one to operate the video. Today's work in hand in preparation for riding.
Wednesdays ride on Harri, really relaxing streching in walk and trot now, getting stronger and able to maintain it a bit himself now. Canter still needs work but is getting stronger that he can hold true canter through the corners and on a circle. He was a little distracted here though as he was not happy he was working while others were getting fed.
Here is the other video from today, Facebook is being weird and won't let me post them together. He went so well in walk and trot today that I thought I'd give canter a go. This was the first time I asked for canter. Not bad, while he was crooked in the canter he trusted my hands and aids and tried very hard to do as I asked and did get a little straighter. Bit to work on there, but he has a lovely temprement and is trying very hard for me.
Meet Harri, Beautiful Arabian gelding here for a bit more education. Had him for the last week and a half so far. Spent the first week mostly just doing groundwork to teach him how to move in a balanced way and to relax and keep his mind in the moment rather then having his mind everywhere but on what we were doing. Finished the week doing in hand work and walk under saddle to teach him rein aids for shoulder control so I could teach him to move straight. He was quite crooked and wobbly in his shoulders at the start which made him unbalanced and tense which resulted in quite a bit of head tossing. Now that he is learning to work straight he has regained his balance and is starting to relax and strech into a contact. Still trying to get him to take his nose forward but that will come with strength and more confidence in taking the contact as he wasn't willing to take it at first.
It's been a while and we have been through some real bratamino moments, the rain was wonderful but did hold us back a bit although I did use the time while my arena was to wet to take Lulu out on some trail rides. Today Lulu was wonderful, she gave me a great effort today and no problems with forward, even in the warm-up. In fact I could almost say she was starting to enjoy her work! Her owner has had her first ride on her this Friday just passed and if she continues the rest of the week as she did today I am satisfied that my job is done and she's ready to go home.
Today's workout with Lulu. We have spent the last couple of weeks building muscle and also working through a bit of an attitude adjustment. Lulu decided this was alot like hard work and thought piggies, bucks and even a rear might possibly be an alternative to the forward aid. So we seem to be past the worst of it now although her facial expressions still show her disgust at having to work. Good thing looks don't kill. As she gets stronger the work will get easier for her so she shouldn't mind the work so hopefully her attitude will continue to improve.
Today's ride on Lulu, end of the week and we pretty much have a rhythm and can now do circles as well as change rein across diagonals. Still working on her balance and getting her to bend correctly through her body to help with her balance as she has really long legs and rather lean body still. She's just hit 5 so surely she's stopped growing now and will start to fill out??? Either way need her nicely balanced under me in trot before we attempt canter so we don't topple. I'm sure we won't it just feels wobbly still but we are getting some moments that feel great.
Time to update. This video was taken Monday just gone. Lulu had only just started trotting under saddle over the weekend so here I was just working on maintaining the trot and starting to get some turns across the diagonal and maintain a rythym.
Here is the little bit more. The rest of the last video, my daughter was doing the filming and turned the camera halfway through. I didn't know how with technology who turn the pic around so half not sideways so enjoy my daughters editing. Lulu did fantastic, her first steps undersaddle.
Lulu is coming along nicely now, ground work completed and I sat on her for the first time yesterday so today was a recap of yesterday and since she was relaxed and offered we did a little more.
