When Blu saw me, he did his regular walk toward me, but Ginger got in the way. Ginger is mean to the boys, very insecure in herself, so she gets nasty and will unnecessarily push Hoosier and Blu around. Now that Blu had an obstacle between him and me, he could either give up or overcome. He fought Ginger to get to me! Well, he actually dodged her blows and sped by, but that's huge!
He was following with me as a partner, rather than dragging behind. I had him circling 15 laps at jog, cantering until relaxed, driving from zone 5 fig 8, cantering in zone 5 in fig 8, prep for mounting from two barrels. All of this before Meggie arrived.
When Meggie arrived, I was almost mounted up. We were supposed to be working on the lead change ladder. However, for the day, we barely made it to the counting canter strides step because Blu had this HUGE problem on the left lead. We focused on eliminating the tail swish by suggesting as lightly as possible and then letting him build up his impulsion as I did quick releases. We went from a thought of going forward to finally a canter. But there was so much worry in his canter. He had trouble with making one of the short-side corners. I used my stick on his shoulder to get him to stay inside. Also, he left the arena once or twice on a sort of AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! canter. We were bridleless, but this was fine, because, as you might have read, I currently have a lot more confidence bridleless than I do with reins. I just calmly smiled at Meggie and said "Good bye!" as we raced off on a tangent. I guided him back to the arena and we re-entered. That happened three times, each time with me getting that shoulder over sooner so the leave was shorter. Finally, he got a little relaxed.
When we switched directions, I put on the reins so I could have Meggie help me through my unconfidence with them. I knew I would have less to deal with in this direction because he is more confident on the right lead. Sure enough, we he was fine. We even got to count strides, and it felt REALLY good. I also never had any problem with the reins.
Meggie is not going to be available to me for lessons until April 5th. Maybe by then I will have some lead changes to show her. Her homework for me is to get Blu very confident at the canter in zone 5 so we can work on asking for a lead on a straight line from zone 5. Also, continue working on the lead change ladder.
Natural Horsewoman Out.
Natural horsemanship is a way of being with the horse, not a discipline of riding. It is much more than riding in itself. It is the human adapting to the ways of the prey animal to form a trusting relationship with a prey animal. There are so many resources out there, and this blog is my journey with horses as I set out on this conquest of knowledge.
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About Me
- HorsesNaturally
- I am a young horsewoman with a million things on my mind. I have been a student of the horse all my life. As a little girl, I had a desire to understand horses on deeper levels. I believed that there was no such thing as a bad horse, and I believed that all horses were beautiful. One might say that I was a naive child, but I guess I don't have an excuse anymore, because I still believe all of that, and Parelli Natural Horsemanship is helping expand on this perspective.
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