Had a successful, but shorter than I hoped session with Gemini. His catching game in the run was beautiful. He partnered very nicely, bending his neck around so I could halter him in front of my stomach while in Z2. We went to the arena, started on the ground, practicing the rock slide and falling leaf. Moving his fore w/o moving my feet from 22ft away is a challenge. He's very in tune with me, which is nice, but he seems to get a little lost. So slow and easy, one step at a time, we got some nice movements.
Then, my plan was to do cloverleaf with transitions. I also wanted to practice getting the lead out of the trot that I asked for every time. Z and I are struggling a little bit there, but I realized with Gem it was a piece of cake. Why? Because he canters slowly, thoughtfully, rhythmically. Z canters like she's running from a fire and her rhythm is erratic. It was great to feel that I can actually get the canter lead I ask for with Gem. Now to develop that with Z...
Gems canter departs were so soft and I was focused on asking with the correct hind struck the ground. We got some very nice transitions up, like butter. It made me full-on smile.
As we were getting really warm and having nice success, the rain started. Bummer. I took him into the barn, trimmed his feet a little, then when the rain stopped, we went back to the arena and played with the other side (the left lead).
No comments:
Post a Comment