Yay!

Very successful session today. She was calm and relaxed and kept her head down very well, even with being hyped up yesterday. I started just leisurely walking and jogging her...trusting her on a looser rein. She does tend to veer off the rail while going around to the left (counter-clockwise), so i had to use my leg and rein a lot more to keep her on the rail. But, she's very light and neck reining decently now. I'm quite proud! I did have her lope again, and I decided it would be best to just keep her on the rail, and have her go where i want her to, before i start having her do circles. I want her to be able to build up some endurance and then I will work on collection.

I think before, she wasn't allowed to have her head, and therefore was not balanced, and therefore was resentful or reluctant to try to lope. I'm starting to trust her more and go with her movements, and I'm seeing a lot of improvement. I'm keeping an eye on her back to make sure she's not sore. She was a bit sore today, since I rode her hard yesterday (and I'm very sore, too!) so she's going to get the weekend off most likely. She's very light on the bit and is getting better with turning. All this basic control work and backing up and whatnot has done WONDERS for her control and her stopping power.

I'll keep working on her. I have to leave the 15th of May for Mackinac Island for the summer, so I'm trying to get as much done as I can in terms of training. I've been on this training class for over a year, but I've had so many challenges and other obligations to complete. I hope to finish it by the end of this year when I get home, but hard to say. I need money, that's for sure! So, the lazy horse gets yet another summer off. But, if I didn't have a job, I probably wouldn't have a horse, so this is all in good fun. :)

I'll be driving taxi this summer on the island, which will be new, but fun all the same. Hopefully i'll enjoy it.

Anyway, TTFN!

Success?

Wow, I know it's been a long time since I've posted.

Been progressively working with Gunny outside in the outdoor arena. The last two lessons I asked her to lope, and I gave her her head. She pinned her ears, yes, but she didn't throw her head and she went into the lope and maintained a pretty rhythmic gait that wasn't too fast nor too slow. She hasn't ducked off the rail at all, which I'm very proud of her for. I'm gaining trust in her again. However, I did try to do circles, and she drops her shoulder a lot. That could be from the lunging initially, or me dropping MY shoulder. I tried very hard to keep my leg on her, and sit up straight, but she still did it. That might be something we need to work on...after I did circles, she got hyped up and wanted to go fast...which makes sense, since that's what she was used to with round penning and lunging. I just don't want to back track. I think the saddle pad is helping, which might be the original head throwing problem...the saddle. Either that or me asking her to collect too much, and she couldn't. Either way, she's getting better and I'm proud. I just don't want to back track. Tomorow, going to work on slow, back, walk/trot stuff. Maybe a little loping, but not too much.