Down Time--Literally

I did S bends for the longest time, but Misty was not taking more than a few steps. Now, I could have continued doing S bends, and eventually she would have followed me, but I decided to just lay down for a while (I think it was 45 minutes).

While I laid there with Misty standing over me, I was thinking. I thought about next summer. I am going to the Fast Track on July 4-29, 2011. I have a long way to go before I am ready for it. I would really prefer to have my black string before a go. It would just make things easier on my mind. I am going to get out a giant piece of paper and write down EVERYTHING I need to do with Blu so I can make a program for the next year. I will give each item one week of focus and then just brush up on it as we go along.

I also thought about how much Misty means to me. She is covered in cuts, abrasions, and one particularly bad cut on her right front cannon. I might need to have the vet out, actually. But she is very important to me. She keeps me a good person, now. Obviously, a vehicle of Jesus, right?

After Misty took steps forward and smelled me and left, I got up and got Blu. Blu followed Hoosier to the back gate, at first. I just walked to the gate and he came to me there. Then I walked to the front area. Blu turned away when I was about to yo yo him out, so I just went with it, rather than fight him or make him feel wrong. It surprised him. I stayed in position and drove him to and into the round pen from zone 5.

He was going out really nicely, and is going back with lower energy phases from me. However, he was not coming back to me as well. I did long waits with a soft feel to get Blu to come in with less stiffness. By rewarding several small shifts, he would suddenly (or so it seems), walk all the way to me. I repeated it 2-4 times. On the last, I moved in a backward spiral and he came right in.

When I first sent Blu on the circle, he was worried and confused. I just stayed very clear and slow, and he relaxed. He was breaking gate at the gate, so when I began down ward transitions, I did them right after the gate. He was cantering with good impulsion, sometimes too much because he at one point, he was having trouble with the trot--he wanted to canter.

I had properly evolved and progressed through transitions, so we ended up with canter to halts to canter. Then, I asked for the back up from the walk-halt. This is new to him. It is one of new items on the list of things to do. The goal is for him to treat backing up the way he would walking--it is a gait he should maintain until told otherwise. I would just leave him alone when he was backing. He was doing canter to back up transitions at the end. I only let him go back about 10 feet today. The consistency in position of the downward transitions was paramount to his success.

Next, I began the beginnings of small circles around me at liberty. I just had him walk at my shoulder while I walked the smallest circle. Then, I stopped walking, but worked him through getting around me. He walked off to the fence when he was almost around me. He began nibbling, so I went over and picked the scrubby grass and sat with him. He appreciated that I was taking a break with him. I decided it was a good place to end for the day because he was very happy.

I put the halter on and let him go in Hoosier's stall. All the horses were eating their hay in the South Pasture, ready to go out back when it was gone, when I left.

Natural Horsewoman Out.