Kept things very short and sweet with
Cheyenne tonight. Today at work when I got bored, I wrote out my
guidelines for tonight: don't worry about how long it takes, giver her
space, don't worry about speed (this is a big one with me), and don't
push.
Circling to the left was surprisingly better than to the right! A lot of tension on the 22' line during the canter (normally I am always pushing her out to the end of it, reminding her to broaden the circle) but she didn't take too long to figure out the circumference she was working with and a few laps into it gave me a nice consistent canter circle. Transition down to a trot was good, and with a few reminders to stop pulling on the rope and relax, I had a good trot. Walk was great first lap. Going to the right, canter took about three times as long to get. I sadly didn't count my laps tonight, but she was more worried about running fast instead of paying attention to the tautness of the rope. Several suggestions later to get off the rope, I was getting good at making a correction and going back to neutral! I realized I was blaming her and focused more on what and how I was asking. Once she got a little energy out she was able to think, not break gait, and give me a nice circle :) yay! Trotting right also took more time, as well as the walk, to get a good relaxed lap without breaking gait. While at the walk, about two laps into it she began licking and chewing, and I brought her right in. What a fabulous point to end at - the thinking/processing part!
Sideways from cone to cone seems to be a big hit for her, and I made a conscious effort to keep her at least 4 feet from me, and to NOT RUSH her. I am definitely not helping my extreme RBE when I make her feel rushed and wrong all the time by making her go quickly, micromanaging, and making constant corrections. So tonight I did the opposite of all that, and got some more relaxed, and towards the end, confident, side passes :) We did a victory jump over the 3 footer and called it a night after a little bit of touch-it :) Things went really well. I just am learning to make a mental effort to be more aware of what and how I am asking her to do. My first real steps towards level three thinking and refinement!! :) I'm not gonna lie, this little breakthrough is exciting!!
Circling to the left was surprisingly better than to the right! A lot of tension on the 22' line during the canter (normally I am always pushing her out to the end of it, reminding her to broaden the circle) but she didn't take too long to figure out the circumference she was working with and a few laps into it gave me a nice consistent canter circle. Transition down to a trot was good, and with a few reminders to stop pulling on the rope and relax, I had a good trot. Walk was great first lap. Going to the right, canter took about three times as long to get. I sadly didn't count my laps tonight, but she was more worried about running fast instead of paying attention to the tautness of the rope. Several suggestions later to get off the rope, I was getting good at making a correction and going back to neutral! I realized I was blaming her and focused more on what and how I was asking. Once she got a little energy out she was able to think, not break gait, and give me a nice circle :) yay! Trotting right also took more time, as well as the walk, to get a good relaxed lap without breaking gait. While at the walk, about two laps into it she began licking and chewing, and I brought her right in. What a fabulous point to end at - the thinking/processing part!
Sideways from cone to cone seems to be a big hit for her, and I made a conscious effort to keep her at least 4 feet from me, and to NOT RUSH her. I am definitely not helping my extreme RBE when I make her feel rushed and wrong all the time by making her go quickly, micromanaging, and making constant corrections. So tonight I did the opposite of all that, and got some more relaxed, and towards the end, confident, side passes :) We did a victory jump over the 3 footer and called it a night after a little bit of touch-it :) Things went really well. I just am learning to make a mental effort to be more aware of what and how I am asking her to do. My first real steps towards level three thinking and refinement!! :) I'm not gonna lie, this little breakthrough is exciting!!
I need to get into the habit of writing guidelines for myself too! Especially when I'm feeling direct line and like I need to accomplish something NOW. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDelete