Started with Tina in the arena. We did a little groundwork, but I wanted to focus on riding. We rode the bowtie pattern at just the walk for a bit and I was asking her to feel of me and talking specifically to the inside fore as much as possible. Then, we trotted the pattern for a while. She was relaxed and calm and very responsive. She kept pulling to the other side of the arena and after we'd been riding about 40 minutes, I decided to let her take me where she'd been wanting to go.
My arena has some weeds growing around the edges and that was what she wanted! Some of the weeds must be her favorites. I let her take a few bites and then we went back to work. It was a nice, confidence building ride focusing on building softness.
Tomorrow we'll go back to the large circle and work on transitions on the circle. We'll also get some cantering in.
I then pulled Gem out for a little Level 4 groundwork. We didn't spend much time, maybe 30 minutes. Worked on transitions online, sideways, and teaching him to follow my focus on the feet to change gaits. He was soft and easy, but thinking about the herd more than I'd like. Still, we got some nice things done. I drove him from zone 5 through the trees before going back to the barn. He did nicely with that!
A good night with a couple great horses.
No comments:
Post a Comment