The last few weeks have been full of mini adventures with the horses :) For mother's day my mom and I did a mini photo shoot with her and her Friesian x Mustang mare, Lena, which was a huge blast! I also hopped on Lena that day and was her first official passenger! She did so good and took it all in stride. As the summer continues I'm hoping to help my mother start her more under saddle and get her more solid so she can become my mom's next trail/dressage partner :)
Last weekend Cheyenne and I had a great break through under saddle! Or, mote accurately, I had a break through ;) She was great online, and was calm, cool, and connected. However when I swung into the saddle her energy spiked, she came alive, and our connection flew right out the window. I'm still not sure if it was my energy coming up unknowingly, or if by accident I have conditioned her to bring her life up under saddle and to expect a faster pace. I started with some figure eights around the cones to get her more focused on my aids which (kind of) worked, then decided to play Follow the Rail and ask for a walk/trot transition every 15 strides. Our down transitions were extremely rough and I felt like I had to be very firm with my reins to get a response. Obviously this still wasn't engaging her mentally, so we started having an up, down, or backing transition every four strides. Bam! Instant success! She started paying attention to my aids, and by the end of the ride I could ask her to move down from a canter to a trot with just my seat aids :) I have learned it's necessary to take the ideas behind the patterns I've been given and start thinking for myself and start tweaking the patterns to find something that works for the horse I'm on in the situation I'm in; there is no cookie-cutter solition. Chey was SO relaxed and responsive by the end of our ride, and I couldn't have been more proud of her :) I was even able to canter on a completely loose rein and steer with just my seat/leg aids 80% of the time :) Progress!
Yesterday my back was hurting pretty badly, so we just had a day to hang out together, be mellow, and enjoy the sunshine :) Honestly I feel like we have the best time when we just sit around and do nothing lol.
I hope everyone is having a fabulous holiday weekend! Have fun, and don't forget to go play with your ponies!
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