Things I learned today:
- Sometimes you need to just push the horse a little for them to progress
- Bliss is alot calmer than I give her credit for
Things Bliss and I accomplished:
- Walked in straight lines along a big box I mentally mapped out until she quit trying to go back to her mom and was focused on what we were doing
- Worked on neck-reining on the right (to the left)
- By the end, Bliss was walking with her head down, responding to just neck rein on the right and leg pressure to turn Left
Why this title? (And other principles learned)
It was proven to me while I was home in January that if you've got an irritated, tail-swishing horse, just take them out and work with them - make them move, stop, turn, go and go back. At the end of the session, your tail-swisher will have loose lips and a relaxed (even bored) posture. While my sister was taking graduation pictures of me on and with Justin my horse, he was being so antsy and moving around and tossing his head and just throwing a fit. Well... if he was acting up, I would make him behave, and my sister wouldn't let him step into her space and backed him up every time he tried to walk over her. At the end of our one hour shoot, Justin was standing stock still, was paying attention and even looked bored.
Today, Bliss did the same thing. When I first got on, she had her ears back and was swishing her tail, but I just rode her quietly and firmly. I didn't want to ask too much of her because a) I didn't want her to be confused and b) I wanted her to realize that being ridden isn't this difficult, horrible, arduous process. So, I mapped out a mental box in the field next to the stable yard/area where her mother was at, and we rode that AT A WALK until she stopped swishing her tail, had her head down and was walking steady. The box was very far down the pasture though, so she wasn't near her mother, and I was surprised at how good she did and didn't pay too much attention to her mother.
We worked mostly on introducing the neck rein going left, leg pressure and just staying on a straight line. It was good practice for me to KEEP MY EYES UP, which I have the worst time doing, and Jace wants me to work on neck reining with her. Bliss is so sensitive and smart that she was responding to the neck rein just a little by the end of our session. She'll pick up on it quick. I intend to ride her every day this week, so I imagine she'll be pretty darn responsive to it by the end of the week.
