Well, it's been a BUSY BUSY month. Sorry for all of you who got addicted to the blog and then got let down with no updates. I was afraid that might happen LOL!
So, in summary, here's how training has gone this past month:
Peanut's gait returned to its previous quality, with more symmetrical gaiting and no more "weak" leads! His topline came together, his stifles strengthened, and he finished off his training by gaiting in frame in a state of self-carriage in walk, gait, and canter. He was proficiently performing walk to canter transitions and also simple lead changes on figure 8s and serpentines from his "good" lead to his "weak" lead. His previously "weak" lead has strengthened to a point that his slight unbalance in that direction is hardly perceptable. Some pics from 1/2 way through his training:
Hershey, a 4 y.o. friesian gelding, has come in for saddle starting. He's been intro'd to equipment, lunged over cavelettis, line driven, and is now under saddle walk/trot. He's got LOTS to learn about confidence, for sure! Overall he's been progressing quickly and doing extremely well.Scooby has had his "good hock" and "bad hock" days. On good hock days, he's w/t/c GREAT, in frame, bending both directions, and generally excellent. On "bad hock" days I can feel the weakness in the hind and am careful not to push him. Last week we worked on "trail work" pn the trail behind the barn, having to be brave with stream crossings and ride by himself through the woods behind the barn. He did EXCELLENT and is getting braver on the driveway and in new situations in general. This past session Alex rode him in a lesson with me and we worked on teaching him how to stride over poles, jump about 18" jumps and by the end he was trotting and cantering confidently in a gymnastic line with a x rail, a vertical and an oxer at varying stride lengths.
I took my 2 y.o. andalusian colt to a USDF DSHB show and he got 1st place in his breed class. He was SO QUIET and excellently behaved I couldn't be prouder.
2 comments:
Wow, those pictures of Peanut really make the bridle look like it's digging into his nose and moving forward when the reins engage. It has a definite angle to the top of the noseband, and once when I took it apart to clean I was lost as to whether it should angle forward or back. I looked at the pictures on the bridle's website and it appeared that they were angled forward, so that's how I reassembled it. I think I might switch it around and see what difference that makes.
Thanks for the summary!
At the time he was also working very "downhill" and heavy, as his topline and hindquarter muscling just was getting back in order to support him. Now he's MUCH more uphill and light, so you should see a lot less of the pressure across the nose. Gosh knows there's very few pounds of pressure on the reins, as you've recently experienced in your most recent rides on him :-)
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