Peanut's work today consisted completely of groundwork. With many gaited horses, I really like to sort the gait out on the ground and let the horse figure out how to begin to naturally carry the gait without rider interference. While I know I can get a perfect 1-2-3-4 step sequence now from the saddle by rebalancing him, I like to really "teach" the horse the muscle memory to do it more naturally on their own. Sara (his owner) was there and was observing the training session.
We worked on open lunging, and I showed her how to reinforce the lateral in-hand work that I was using to sort out his unilateral weakness in the hind. I was able to demonstrate his weakness/slowness in the left and right hinds and give her a "blow by blow" view of each and every adjustment I make on him in hand to rebalance and guide his movement and why.
In open lunging, Peanut did excellent--he was able to walk, gait, and canter in both directions on a longer lunge line. He showed a lot of progress in his confidence and I explained to Sara as I was working when I would increase or release pressure from Peanut from my body posture and positioning.
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