Things are progressing with Maddy. I am working on straight lines this week. I usually start with about 5 minutes of trot on a loose rein letting her go where ever she wants. Then we trot along the rail for awhile and then I let her go where ever then back to the rail. When she is feeling really soft, I go all rail. When she goes the length of the arena without any reminders to stay on the rail, I start with straight lines to the opposite side of the arena. For steering, the mantra is "eyes, bellybutton, then rein." I finally see the beginnings of a dressage horse. I was also feeling adventurous on the ground and had the arena to myself, so I did some liberty work with her. For those that don't know what "liberty" is, it just means going through some ground skills with no lead rope. They are just loose. She did really well with shoulder and hindquarter yields, but she got a little freaked on the circle game and left me for awhile to the end of the arena. I got her back with the sideways game...but the coolest thing was getting her to come to me with the yo yo game. It was nice to wave her in and actually have her come to me. So that liberty stuff does work if you on line work is solid....it is shocking as heck to actually have them listen. (This is an old photo--we are "western" no more...onto our dressage gear!)
2 comments:
I rode sick yesterday and iwas everywhere but straight in the saddle, oh my, my poor horse trying to figure out what was happening. eyes, bellybutton, and rein I had no clue and neither did he. Fuuny part, I was making video to send to prospective buyers! HELP!! lol
Mikael sounds like you need Stable Hand Video!:-) You are just up in Washington right?? My video website is www.stablehandvideo.com--I will give you an extra special rate for being my blog buddy;-)
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