DAY 30: We went
back to the El Dorado Country Fairgrounds Arena tonight. It was chilly and the
horses had more energy than usual. Both Brody and Argent like the great footing
but are learning to deal with a lighted arena and evening sessions. With the
overhead lights reducing the visibility past the rails to about five feet it
seems the equine claustrophobic nature is at work. We did lots of desensitizing
and sending near the scary objects (trans: the signs, the barrels and the tool
shed). After our warm up ground work we focused on Circle Driving, Leading
Beside and some of the Backing exercises. Brody seems to take joy in the
groundwork. He seems to get focused nicely (lots of licking of the lips and
lowering of the head). We’re trying to get these exercises from a C, C+ to an
A! So far, so good! We’re sitting at a healthy B- average right now! The
groundwork has helped his stamina and his mental alertness/focus. He seeks
approval and reward more that other horses I’ve had experience with so I have
to constantly remind myself to allow for rubbing/reward time and to talk to
him. Sounds funny but he responds to this very well. He is willing to work
without much fuss but needs the reward time to feel good about the efforts
being made. It is part of the charming being that is Brody. Under saddle our
focus was brakes and gas pedal. Lots of one-rein stops as he kind of blows off
the seat cue but stops when you touch the rein. Really want the seat to be the
break. We’ll get there. Brody moves out with a squeeze or a squeeze/cluck
combination. His stamina is the hard part. He can’t trot very long with me on
his back (about 15 minutes) before he needs a break. It is already improved but
we’ve got work to do. His lope is getting better too but we are, once again,
facing stamina issues. It is just a matter of time and conditioning. The
session ended with some easy ground work to cool down. The improvements are
small but consistent. They certainly warm the heart and keep us motivated.
Looking forward to tomorrow nights session!
DAY 31: Another
night at the El Dorado County Fairgrounds Arena. The horses are getting used to
it. We did our usual warm up and then we did some Sending near the scary signs
and construction material that was on the other side of the rail. The two feral
cats we saw like to torment the horses a bit as well. It was a chilly night and
the horses had some pep in their step So we did more ground work and got
creative with it. We were working on Lunging for Respect Stage 2 and I (the
human) could not get my body to move right. Brody finally figured out what I
was asking by I felt (and probably looked) like a monkey doing a math problem.
Not pretty. It was going to be one of those nights.
We then saddled up. I have become a major fan of Brody and
his willingness to please and his desire for affirmation of a job well done.
Even when I mess up an exercise he is willing to plug on through. Love that
about him. We started off working on the gas pedal (Cruising Lesson) and the
brakes (One-Reign Stop) at the walks and trot. Improvements happened and things
were going well. We then did some circles at the trot and a serpentine/ribbon
pattern while working on walk, trot transitions. These were a bit smoother and
showed signs of improvement. It is all about those baby-steps and celebrating
the small victories. We then tried a couple of trot-lope transitions. The first
issue was the human! I could not find the rhythm of the stride at all. Ugh! It
was not pretty. I felt too tight at my hips and core! Brody was doing the waltz
and I was doing the cha-cha. Then Brody showed me his
"gaited horse" impression by demonstrating the "tro-lope"
which is a combination of a trot and lope alternating from front to rear. While
it was amusing (according to my sweetie Laurie) to watch it was disconcerting
to try to "sit" (and I use the term loosely). Perhaps it was his new
rear boots which we introduced to him (along with my new handy stick). Let’s
hope for my sake, he doesn't do any more impressions. After that we took a
break. I got off and we just hung out to watch Laurie and Argent have a great
time together. After about 15 minutes I got back on and we did Follow the Fence
at the trot and walk with some noticeable improvements, did some direction
changes at the walk and started to get some collection in our backing. We got
two nice trot-lope transitions (half-lap around the arena, one each direction)
and then some cool down laps. It was a night of small improvements for Brody.
It was a night of hitting the wall for me. Ah well. Tomorrow Brody is getting
his feet balanced and trimmed so he’ll have the day off. We hope to do more
training Thursday –Saturday.
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