DAY 48-51: Schedules, weather and demands on our time have
made this last week a bit crazy. Still we got in four training sessions. The
goals were to review and gain refinement of round pen skills and body language/cues
which occurred as did getting more steps from the Yield the Forequarters
exercise. Progress was made.
Day
48-49 were ground work sessions. The goal in the round pen was to maintain
the energy level and gaits longer which adding more dynamic “yes, sir”
direction changes. Our round pen is not the most level and the footing is rough
so some care had to be taken. Improvements in these areas were made after some moments
of over reaction and turning away from me during direction changes. I was
hoping that just stepping in front of Brody’s nose would generate the “stop and
turn” part of the exercises but I ended up needing to take a step or two
backwards to help him turn inwards before departing. Once I smoothed that our
things went MUCH better. After review of our progress it was determined that we
needed more work on Yeilding the Forequarters, which I admittedly id a poor job
of properly introducing during my enthusiastic reception of our new guy in
December. I took this opportunity to do it right. We struggled a little bit at
first but before long Brody was crossing his steps and not over reacting to the
pressure. After four good tries on each side we called it a day.
The
next day, later in the afternoon that originally planned we were at it again,
looking for improvements! They were there. Some larger ones (great energy in
the round pen and good reception to cues) and some smaller ones (six tries per
side on the forequarter yields and some two-steps as well). We wrapped up with
some Long Line work and Leading Beside. Treats are a great “atta boy” and given
for a job well done. I decided I wanted to make treats part of a game. So, I
removed Brody’s lead line and asked him to lock on. He did, got his neck rubbed
and a treat. I asked him to follow me like in Leading Beside. He did so neck
rub and treat. We tried several of the exercises he knows in succession and
each time he did them he got a treat. Then we tried the same exercises all in a
row and when he performed them, a treat and a neck/face rub was his reward. The
change of pace was great for us both and was great for our bonding and respect.
Day
50 found us at Pioneer Park in Somerset
(the Fairgrounds arena was closed due to a 4H Show. After our warm up and
ground work time, we got a little crazy! Tried to make the groundwork a
(forgive the term) game of sorts. Wanted to flow from one exercise to the other
and try to create a dance...like we have seen Clinton do at Tour Stops. So, in the large
arena (what was I thinking) I took off Brody’s lead rope and we ran through
several of the exercises including Leading from Beside (both sides) at liberty.
While we were NO WHERE CLOSE to being as good as we have seen on Tours Stops,
the energy and the fun was there. Brody stuck with me like we've been doing
this together for months. It blew me away! Work under saddle went well. We
worked on transitions (learning is in the transitions so the saying goes),
bending and softening our cues. We worked around some cones and generally had a
solid ride until Brody began to show signs of being tired. I could feel him
beginning to slow in his efforts and knew we were getting near the end of his endurance.
So before he quit me, I quit the session after getting one last win under
saddle.
Day
51 and we were a Pioneer
Park again (Presidents
Day = Fairgrounds closed) and went through the same routine. This time we had
an audience of five children and some parents who were amazed at the liberty
work Brody did and how friendly/calm our horses were. It was another positive
session. Brody is really fun to work with and we seem to have built up a
respectful relationship. We have LOTS of work ahead of us but the foundation is
being built and with any luck it will remain strong.
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