Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Lunging and More Riding

Today was very productive. I began by lunging Gunny at all three gaits. She was a little sassy at the jog and lope, but eventually got over it and relaxed. 


As you can see, she's coming along well with this. If you compare this video to the first lunging video, you can see the slight progress she's making. Her gaits are a bit more collected than they used to be.

After lunging, I practiced riding Gunny on a loose rein, at a walk, in a figure 8 pattern. At first she was a bit tense, but began to relax after a few minutes. I didn't realize it until almost the end of the ride, but I was leaning forward slightly, which I believe was causing her to want to go a bit faster. I was trying to stay off of her mouth except for to bump her the way I wanted to turn. I think me trying to keep my arms out forward to encourage a long frame made me subconsciously lean forward. Oops! That's something I have to work on. At the very end of the ride, I sat up and back slightly and I felt her relax and go slower. Once she relaxed her head and I felt her complying with my wishes, I got off and called it a day.




We still have lots of work to do, but it's good to see things get better, slowly. 


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