Tuesday 31st March
Well today I found out that I've passed the whole of my PNH Level 3 audition. I sent in Solly's Online and Liberty and also Tara's Online, Liberty and Freestyle a month ago and they passed me on it all. I'm over the moon and so proud of all our horses who have taught me how to be better each day.
My audition film is now on the MOVIE's section on this blog (check right hand side for 'Our Journey' files)
My audition film is now on the MOVIE's section on this blog (check right hand side for 'Our Journey' files)
So now I'm officially studying Level 4. Got the Freestyle to do at home with Solly to bring him through to Tara's level but from there on it will be Solly doing Level 4 with me...YEEHAAA ;-)
Monday 30th March
The weekend weather was pretty nasty so didn't do any playing or riding at all. Today is grey but dry and the wind isn't too bad so I grab my equipment and mosey on out to see what Sol and I can do today. Here is what we did:
1) Friendly Game:
Today I played with him on the 12' line and with the 22' line around his belly (not a full flank rope, just friendly game). He was pretty cool about it being anywhere around his belly and further back and I then put some pressure on the rope (thereby putting pressure on the outside of his body) and released when he stopped (which he did quite well as he wanted to graze. lol) I did this on the left and right and no problems. This is building up to flank roping.
2) Sideways from Z3:
I used the rope around the belly to also ask for sideways towards me. He got this after a short bit of unconfidence and moving forward a bit so I only do this once for now. I then put the 22' line on the halter with the 12' line and use the 22' line on his outside (like a long rein) and again ask for forwards at walk and trot and then sideways towards me. These all go very well, sideways towards he got pretty quickly ;-)
3) Circling:
I ask for some trotting circles, falling leaf with cod going into canter and then one full circle of canter. Sol did these well and I didn't have to do much to ask him to up his gait which was nice.
4) Grooming/Saddling/Bridling:
All goes well, he's loosing hair big time, saddling went well as he grazed and the bridling today wasn't bad either, not first time but nearly which was cool. Today we're using the sweet iron loose ring snaffle for freestyle/one rein riding.
5) Clover Leaf:
Today I decide to try this pattern as it is wonderfully consistent and I think this will really help him. We went to the left to start with in walk. I did one lap first and rest at X, then two laps and rest at X. Then I ask for trot for one lap then rest, and then two laps and rest for a long time. It almost felt better in trot, maybe our focus was better, over all I was very happy with this. I then asked for exactly the same things to the right (his harder side) and it went pretty good this way too.
I was going to do some more but was so pleased with this that I stop on such a good note.
Friday 27th March
1) Friendly game:
All over, extreme, different zones
2) Putting objects in different Zones:
Started with asking Sol to put his Z5 near a tyre, he couldn't do it first time but he tried very hard and managed to get it really close to his heels.
3) Putting objects near or under Z4:
Started Sol with the tyre again and he has real problems with these. Maybe because they can hide something nasty in the centre of them, could get his feet stuck in them or whatever. He really really tries and manages to get the tyre nearly between his front and back feet so I leave it there.
4) Z5 again:
We then attempt to get a cone next to Z5 and this wasn't so bad, he went a bit crooked a couple of times so I drew bim back to me a bit and then approached it again backwards. As you can see from the picture he did really well.
The next object we tried after some grazing was the tyre jump. He wasn't quite so bad with this, it's bigger and more solid looking than a single tyre. He went crooked again trying to avoid it a couple of times but again with retreat and re-approach he was good.
Next after that was trying to get his Z5 next to a single barrel. This he did have trouble with and only managed to get within a couple of feet of it but again he was straight and it was a superb try.
5) Circling:
6 laps at trot with slack rope. Fab stuff, really enjoying our circling now.
6) Sideways:
Using the triple logs again, he had trouble today. Maybe because of the wind or it could be that he got unconfident trying with the tyre under Z4 earlier. Took a lot of time and managed it nicely in the end. Gave him plenty of time grazing after this one.
6) Jumping:
Today we did some great jumps. First he squeezed over the tyre jump both ways, then he jumped the single barrellaying down from about 12' from me (so not a long distance from me but starting small and building up as we go), then he managed to jump 2 barrels next to each other (belly to belly) in a spread which I so wish I'd got a picture of but another day for that. Was a good spread. Later, on the way back to the grazing field, he actually jumped a bigger spread of 4 large logs next to each other on a slope, it must have been almost 5' wide and from a pool of water too. COOL ;-)
Wednesday 25th March
Had to go out today so just spent a bit of time with Solly this morning after grooming all of the herd. This is what we did today:
1) Friendly game:
Grooming, Swinging rope from Z5 over head L&R, Swinging rope over head from Z1 L&R.
2) Circling:
Got those fabulous close, loose rope circles at trot, 6 laps. Fab
3) Sideways:
From Z5 L&R
Had a short session but a very good one, everything done on ph1-2, willingly, calmly and with a nice look on his face. Great stuff ;-)
Friendly game from Z5
Friendly game from Z1Tuesday 24th March
Sunday I wasn't feeling 100%, yesterday we had Snow, Hail, Rain, Sleet and Sun! so stayed inside. lol. Today is very very cold but dry most of the day so I pop out and spent some time with Solly to make up for three days off. I was going to take him up to the playfield but he was playing with the herd a bit so I stayed in their grazing field and when he caught me this is what we played on together...
1) Friendly game
2) Porcupine game:
For this today I put the 22' rope around him, flicking it over his head first, and asked him to spin the circle toward the pressure from the halter. Going around to the right was okaybut we did it a few times going to the left to make that easier for him.
Step 1...feel the gentle pressure
Step 2...go with the feel and start to move feet
Step 3...full spin on gentle feel of rope3) Circling game:
Started with walking on a slight hill which he did well, then put in some walk/trot on the circles. He trotted on the top of the hill and walked down the bottom, this was fine with me, as long as he tried some trot then if he felt unbalanced going down hill then it's better he walk that bit.
4) Sideways:
For a change I do some sideways away from Z5. He tried to go backwards to start with but soon got what I asked for with some support from the CS in Zones 1/2. He's a clever boy ;-)
Sideways to the left from Z5
Sideways to the right from Z55) More Circles:
This time I ask for close circles and with some bend in his ribs. He has trouble with his ribs goin on right circles and I help him try by using the CS and the Porcupine game where my leg would be when riding. He tries really hard and I stop and rest him as soon as he tries. We do this both ways in walk and trot.
6) Last Circles;
This was a great circling game as today I asked for 6 laps at trot and he just did them, calmly, willinngly, rope belly on ground and stopped beautifully when asked. Cool.
Circling with rope belly on groundDidn't spend much time out with Sol today, it was way too cold and my hands were freezing but it was worth going out for just that small time. I think he enjoyed playing today too.
circles with ribs overs. circles 6 laps at trot.
Friday 20th March
My eye is better today but I wear sunglasses to protect it from the sunshine and breeze. Here is what we did today:
What you doing over there mum?1) Grooming and Friendly game
2) Stick to me: wallk/trot/backup/half
3) Circling in 50' round pen on 45' line:
Today I Sol went out with enthusiasm knowing what I wanted from him (4 laps at trot) and I actually left him out for 5 laps and he was great both to the left and right. He was away from the fence, the line lovely and loose with a 'what do you want mum' look on his face. Yeehaa ;-) I give him LOTS of good breaks in between the two turns which really means something now.
4) Bridling:
He is a funny horse, he will bite and play with the whole bridle (bit and all) until you ask him to put it on and then he clamps shut his mouth. I play with the idea that as long as his head is lowered then he can 'take' the bit when he wants and this worked okay. I didn't have a problem asking him to lower his head and eventually he just took it in his mouth. I leave it on for a bit this time.
5) Circling in field, 45' line:
Today he does well, no problem with the 45' line, he doesn't try to run from me, stays nice and even and the circles are in trot. He does a couple of jumps at a good distance from me which is nice.
6) Fig 8's:
He did these well but had a bit of trouble again going from a left circle to the right so I slow everything down and get this right before moving on.
7) Sideways:
Away and towards go well and today be goes over the triple triangle logs without much trouble at all. I make sure he only gets to graze after the sideways and he does it both left and right without putting a foot wrong. Another YEEHAA :-)
8) Repeat fig 8's:
I go back and repeat this task and he's much better this time.
9) Bridle up 2nd time:
Went better this time and so I leave it on again and go saddle up.
10) Cinching circles, 22'' line:
I ask for leg yields and moving his ribs over on the circles this time to help limber him up for ridden circles.
11) Ride the Rail:
We start in walk just doing the rail, all goes well. Then I start asking for small circles around the cones and he still has a problem knowing what my leg aids are asking! SO, I start experimenting on my position and where I put my legs, are my ribs right, am I moving my torso correctly to help him circle. In the end I find that if I actually put some weight in my outside stirrup he has more luck knowing what I want so I work with this more. Although I have the hackamore on I don't use the reins as I'm trying to get him to understand my body dynamics more.
LF12) Ridden Fig 8's:
These didn't go too well but I'll work on them.
13) Open/Close roundpen entrance:
I've been using this as a task to get Sol used to gate opening before actually asking him to gate open. The roundpen fence is only electric tape so it's easier for me to work around to start with and if I drop the loop I can use the CS to pick it up. Sol is fine going through, waiting and going back to the gateway and our refined communication is getting better from doing this. I can't do it freestyle though, only with slightly concentrated reins! something to work on.
13) QB:
We start in walk on the small circles, okay and seems a bit better than yesterday which hopefully proves that you just have to get out there and DO IT for those 7 TIMES IN A ROW for an effect to happen!
We go to the medium circles in trot and although I'm not truly working in freestyle (I have a rein ready to go to concentrated in case of pheasants flying up at us, more coming into the field daily!) he does much better working with my body dynamics. I end the session on a very good note with him trotting nicely around the med tyres.
SO, just for fun I ride him back down the lane to our house so that I can trim his feet. He hasn't been ridden down the lane for a while, there are lots of pheasants and other things around and I make sure I use concentrated reins so make him feel safe (it really does seem too help him when he's unconfident). He stops at all the gravel piles from winter as these weren't on the road last time he came down it. I used retreat, approach and retreat at them all and he was fine after a couple of those each time.
Then I let him graze and trimmed his feet. Really had a lovely day and the sun shone brilliantly the whole day ;-)
Tomorrow I'm going off to Leven, Fife for the first PNH Playday for 2009 and although I am not taking a horse with me I know it will be a lot of fun with good friends.
Thursday 19th March
Well yesterday I stupidly 'pinged' the 45' line on my left eye, I was just playing with it and I caught myself by mistake SO last night my eye was very very weepy and stung like crazy, gave me a headache too. I slept well but this morning it was still a bit weepy and strong daylight and a breeze really wasn't helping. I decide to just spend some undemanding time with Solly and take him and Holly up to the playfield for some nice spring grazing. They really enjoyed it and it was nice to just hang with them for a couple of hours.
When I brought them back I rode Sol bareback and ponyed Holly from him which was nice too. As Holly is herd leader in the field it was interesting how she backed down a bit when she realised I was going to protect my herd of two (me and Sol) when I was riding him ;-) she followed quite nicely after that.
When I brought them back I rode Sol bareback and ponyed Holly from him which was nice too. As Holly is herd leader in the field it was interesting how she backed down a bit when she realised I was going to protect my herd of two (me and Sol) when I was riding him ;-) she followed quite nicely after that.
Holly and Solly enjoying the grass
Solly wondering what I was doing behind the stone wall! lolWednesday 18th March
Again today it was sunny and bright and I couldn't wait to get out with Solly. He came over to me and knew where we were going. He has turned a corner on going out on his own, he doesn't seem to mind much about going to the playfield with me without Tara to keep him company and this is a good indication to me that he's more confident about my leadership ;-)
So, here is what we got up to today:
1) Grooming/Friendly game
2) Circling game: 45' line/4 laps at trot in 50' roundpen:
He did MUCH better with this today. He did go slightly introverted again but not for long. We actually did two lots of circling both ways and he seems to realise his responsibilities for this game. We'll see how it goes tomorrow!
3) Bridling:
Again he took it first time but when I took it out it took ages for him to try again. Once he did take it again I did it up and then did the 4 laps of circle at trot game again. The bridle doesn't seem to upset or annoy him once it's in, it's just the 'game' of getting it there! lol.
4) Circles with 45' line out of arena:
He had fun with this game, and I managed to work the 45' line okay too, phew! lol. He popped over a couple of jumps well too.
5) Fig 8's:
With the 45' line now I moved the cones even further apart so that Sol could benefit from the long rope and hopefully put in some canter strides if he wanted. He obliged nicely and the pattern is one of our favorites, his energy really got up and he did well on some SLC's. He finds going from right to left much easier than left to right but we're working on it being more balanced on both sides.
6) Sideways:
Sol gave me some lovely trotting sideways around the large roundpen on both sides and also some nice sideways towards on both sides. He also managed to sideways over a single log and bravely did it with three logs stacked in a triangle too. It's taken some time to help him over this 'putting things under his belly worry' that he has but it's been worth it when he does something so nicely. I will keep doing this with the three logs and slowly work towards him going over a barrel!
7) Saddled and riding in the 100' roundpen:
Ride the rail/ walk for half a lap, circle a small circle around a cone and then up into trot half a circle and trot a small circle and back down to walk etc. He did okay with these in the end, hard for him at first though. I have also been asking him to stop in the centre of the roundpen and he found this good.
8) Circles:
I have 4 cones, 6 strides away from the fence in the roundpen, one in each quarter of the circle (later on for the cloverleaf pattern) and I asked Sol to walk the rail and circle each cone as we went by it so that he could 'get' my request better. After a few turns he 'got it' so it was good to do that. He did well on both reins although going to the right is harder for him.
9) Circles:
I asked him again to ride the rail half a circle in trot, half a circle in canter both ways. Really liking his canter now, we seem to be more balanced and it's fun.
10) QB:
He found the QB circles hard today, I have set it up with 4 cones in the centre and then tyres marking a small/medium/large circles each side, to help us get the circles better. I started off going to the left as this is easier for him. The small circles were very hard and it seemed he had difficulty in walk, maybe getting bored and his mind not concentrating on me SO I took the medium circles in rising trot and he 'got' this much quicker. I then went to the larger circle and then mixed up the medium and larger ones, stopping only when we'd done a good circle for him to rest. I then went and did he same thing going to the right and I had to make sure I was sitting on the inside saddle rail to help him curve around the circle better.
Over all we did a lot more riding today and he was a bit 'emotionally' sweaty when we stopped but I made sure he had 15 mins of undemanding time to graze the sweet spring grass that is slowly showing itself in the playfield now. I had a lot of fun and really felt we had improved on all the games we've been working on.
Tuesday 17th March
Beautiful day, blue skies, sun shining and a soft breeze blowing.....time to play ;-)
Sol catches me beautifully todayI start with a major groom, Sol is moulting BIG TIME and I end up with white hair EVERYWHERE. lol. The field now looks like it has snow balls in it. Good fun though and Sol stands dozing while I do it and enjoys the attention and scratches which is nice.
This was my play session today:
1) Friendly game and circles on 45' line:
had to do yo-yo's to get draw/drive better, then I work on getting 4 nice circles in trot which Sol does nicely, slack rope and away from fence (not trying to get out). During the session Sol goes from a bit cocky to unconfident and I spend quite a bit of time at the centre with him a bit introverted. He does get worried when I change the games around but after giving him time he does those beautiful soft circles for me ;-)
2) Next I pull in the small wooden pedastal and he goes straight onto it with his front feet.
Then I ask him to walk over it and ask him to rest his back feet on it...
...cool ;-)3) We go onto bridling/biting and he takes the bit straight away. Can't believe it so just leave it in and go play with the bridle on.
4) Online: jumping barrels, circling at walk/trot/canter and stick to me, sideways away and towards and also sideways over a log which today he did very well. He also did some nice fig 8's around two far apart cones, working on more of the 22' line which felt good.
5) So, onto riding after saddling in the 100' roundpen:
We work on Freestyle ride the rail at walk. I am going to do LOTS of this one as he really didn't 'get it' very well. To stop him getting bored I put in a small circles at one point on the circle. He did get better as we went and I stopped whenever he did well and rested him. I also worked on DHQ to change the rein.
6) Next I went to trotting the rail and wanted a full circle in trot, we were both a bit unbalanced to start with, the pen is on a slight hill so it challenged us a bit but we got there. Whenever I felt unbalanced I went into 'passenger lessons' with him.
7) Finally I challenged us to walk, trot and then canter half the circle and this went really very well. Sol took up the canter exatly when I asked and he also stopped when I relaxed for stop too.
Wednesday 11th March
Grabbed the chance to get out and play with Solly today although it was cold and damp, at least it's wasn't snowing or raining ;-)Today I tried to focus on 'taking the time it takes' with a few tasks that I've been a bit lazy with.
1) Circling - to get 4-10 laps in trot so that we can then work on good walk and canter laps. Sol has a tendency to stop gait or come into me when circling and after watching the Liberty and Horse Behaviour pack again I have some more ideas on how to keep him happy about being out on the circle.
2) Bridling - I am going to start asking Sol to take the bit without any opposition reflex, he's been not bad with the polyurethene bit for a while but I now want to ask him to accept a sweet iron bit.
So, firstly I let him graze in the 100' roundpen whilst I put back my QB cones and tyres (I use the cones for the central 'box' and the tyres as the points of the circles so that I get good at proper circles rather than egg shapes), I also set up 4 cones in the 100' roundpen so that I can use these as markers for ride the rail transitions and the Clover Leaf pattern.
Solly comes and catches me well and I halter him and take him out of the big roundpen and we go into the 50' one. Here I place the halter around Sol's neck and work on sideways along the fence away and towards, changing the way we go regularly but with BIG resting spots in betweeen. I leave it on a very good note where Sol seems to understand sideways away and towards much better.
I then place the halter back onto Sol's face and start working on the circling game. I know I have to keep this simple and provocative or Sol (and I) will get bored with this pattern. Firstly I ask him to go out with some enthusiasm...he is a bit lazy today so tagging the ground works well and I make sure I really am in a totally NEUTRAL position whilst he's out on the circle. BUT, it doesn't take long for him to go down to a walk and so I wait a bit, then draw him to me and change direction asking for the trot again. We do this little 'game' a few times with a few sessions of friendly game in between as he got a bit worried about things. Soon though he actually stays in gait and direction....he does do smaller and smaller circles as he tries to get me to ask him in and once I had to push him gently out with some pressure from the CS but we manage to get 4 great trotting laps and I DHQ and we stand in the centre together for a LONG LONG time until he licks and chews. It felt good to take this time with me doing LESS and Sol doing MORE ;-)
After resting I take Sol out of the pen and spend some time working on bridling. Now he has a BIG oposition reflex to metal bits so this I know isn't going to be a quick fix at all. I try to use reverse psycology with him, he LOVES biting on things and is quite mouthy so I know it's a game to him, what I do first is actually go to his right side instead of working on the left as most people do to bridle. Then I work on asking him to bend his head in LF with the bridle half on/off his head (with the bit part behind his chin), when he can do this calmly I take the bridle off and he can stand straight again. I think this really blew his mind a bit as normally he's had a bridle brought to him and it's gone on regardless, I was asking him just to bend his head and NOT take the bit!! cool concept. I make sure we take LOTS of good rests when something nice has been achieved too and these breaks weren't short so they meant a lot to him. I waited for a change, licking and chewing or that he came out of being a bit introverted.
Anyway, I work on this for absolutely ages, bringing his head around, letting go etc. I then up the anti to where I ask for his head in LF and for him to accept the bit on is lips where I moved the bit away really quickly when his head calmed in LF, again asking him NOT to mouth the bit. As we went along he was LFing very nicely, calm, soft and with the look that he was teaching me to 'take the bridle/bit away'. He went less introverted as we went along and the game was working well.
Next I asked for him to try to take the bit in his mouth. He struggled a bit but then started to bite the bit and fiddle with it. Again I took it away before he lost interest and this made him more curious. He wasn't 'grabbing' at the bit or wanting it in his mouth but it was better than his usual fling of the head 10' into the air synopsis ;-)
After what seemed like an hour (probably was) he took the bit and stood biting on it with his back teeth for ages. I took the bridle off gently when he stopped biting it and made sure he released it from his mouth himself without me bashing it on his teeth.
I was very pleased with the bridling and gave him huge rubs and rest before going back to the circling game! The second time with the circling game went much better than the first and after 4 good laps again we rested and then went back to bridling.
This time with the bridling we got as far as bridling, me releasing the bit out of his mouth and then asking him to re-take the bit. He seemed to understand this well and we did it a few times to reinforce that the bit doesn't always just come out, it can go back in!!!
Such a good positive day, made progress in two sticky sections of our savvy and I will now try to do this for a 7 day pattern so that it becomes second nature to us both. Once Solly is doing 4 laps in trot I will ask for more laps and then later on for it to be in canter, starting with just a few laps. Lastly I will go back and ask for it in walk and then work on the transitions again so that it all flows much better. With the bridling I will continue working with lowering his head, getting a soft LF and then playing with him and the bridle and working towards riding with the metal bit when all goes well. Fingers crossed this will be a very 'positive pattern making month' and Solly will no longer have the oposition reflex with the bridle/bit anymore.
Other patterns I am going to work on this month are Freestyle CS riding, QB in freestyle and Clover Leaf in freestyle....also working on opening gates and jumping with 2xCS's ;-)
1) Circling - to get 4-10 laps in trot so that we can then work on good walk and canter laps. Sol has a tendency to stop gait or come into me when circling and after watching the Liberty and Horse Behaviour pack again I have some more ideas on how to keep him happy about being out on the circle.
2) Bridling - I am going to start asking Sol to take the bit without any opposition reflex, he's been not bad with the polyurethene bit for a while but I now want to ask him to accept a sweet iron bit.
So, firstly I let him graze in the 100' roundpen whilst I put back my QB cones and tyres (I use the cones for the central 'box' and the tyres as the points of the circles so that I get good at proper circles rather than egg shapes), I also set up 4 cones in the 100' roundpen so that I can use these as markers for ride the rail transitions and the Clover Leaf pattern.
Solly comes and catches me well and I halter him and take him out of the big roundpen and we go into the 50' one. Here I place the halter around Sol's neck and work on sideways along the fence away and towards, changing the way we go regularly but with BIG resting spots in betweeen. I leave it on a very good note where Sol seems to understand sideways away and towards much better.
I then place the halter back onto Sol's face and start working on the circling game. I know I have to keep this simple and provocative or Sol (and I) will get bored with this pattern. Firstly I ask him to go out with some enthusiasm...he is a bit lazy today so tagging the ground works well and I make sure I really am in a totally NEUTRAL position whilst he's out on the circle. BUT, it doesn't take long for him to go down to a walk and so I wait a bit, then draw him to me and change direction asking for the trot again. We do this little 'game' a few times with a few sessions of friendly game in between as he got a bit worried about things. Soon though he actually stays in gait and direction....he does do smaller and smaller circles as he tries to get me to ask him in and once I had to push him gently out with some pressure from the CS but we manage to get 4 great trotting laps and I DHQ and we stand in the centre together for a LONG LONG time until he licks and chews. It felt good to take this time with me doing LESS and Sol doing MORE ;-)
After resting I take Sol out of the pen and spend some time working on bridling. Now he has a BIG oposition reflex to metal bits so this I know isn't going to be a quick fix at all. I try to use reverse psycology with him, he LOVES biting on things and is quite mouthy so I know it's a game to him, what I do first is actually go to his right side instead of working on the left as most people do to bridle. Then I work on asking him to bend his head in LF with the bridle half on/off his head (with the bit part behind his chin), when he can do this calmly I take the bridle off and he can stand straight again. I think this really blew his mind a bit as normally he's had a bridle brought to him and it's gone on regardless, I was asking him just to bend his head and NOT take the bit!! cool concept. I make sure we take LOTS of good rests when something nice has been achieved too and these breaks weren't short so they meant a lot to him. I waited for a change, licking and chewing or that he came out of being a bit introverted.
Anyway, I work on this for absolutely ages, bringing his head around, letting go etc. I then up the anti to where I ask for his head in LF and for him to accept the bit on is lips where I moved the bit away really quickly when his head calmed in LF, again asking him NOT to mouth the bit. As we went along he was LFing very nicely, calm, soft and with the look that he was teaching me to 'take the bridle/bit away'. He went less introverted as we went along and the game was working well.
Next I asked for him to try to take the bit in his mouth. He struggled a bit but then started to bite the bit and fiddle with it. Again I took it away before he lost interest and this made him more curious. He wasn't 'grabbing' at the bit or wanting it in his mouth but it was better than his usual fling of the head 10' into the air synopsis ;-)
After what seemed like an hour (probably was) he took the bit and stood biting on it with his back teeth for ages. I took the bridle off gently when he stopped biting it and made sure he released it from his mouth himself without me bashing it on his teeth.
I was very pleased with the bridling and gave him huge rubs and rest before going back to the circling game! The second time with the circling game went much better than the first and after 4 good laps again we rested and then went back to bridling.
This time with the bridling we got as far as bridling, me releasing the bit out of his mouth and then asking him to re-take the bit. He seemed to understand this well and we did it a few times to reinforce that the bit doesn't always just come out, it can go back in!!!
Such a good positive day, made progress in two sticky sections of our savvy and I will now try to do this for a 7 day pattern so that it becomes second nature to us both. Once Solly is doing 4 laps in trot I will ask for more laps and then later on for it to be in canter, starting with just a few laps. Lastly I will go back and ask for it in walk and then work on the transitions again so that it all flows much better. With the bridling I will continue working with lowering his head, getting a soft LF and then playing with him and the bridle and working towards riding with the metal bit when all goes well. Fingers crossed this will be a very 'positive pattern making month' and Solly will no longer have the oposition reflex with the bridle/bit anymore.
Other patterns I am going to work on this month are Freestyle CS riding, QB in freestyle and Clover Leaf in freestyle....also working on opening gates and jumping with 2xCS's ;-)
Saturday 7th March
Once again the weather has been bad, we've had some snow and quite a bit of rain, hail, sleet and a ton of wind. I've given time off to the horses as it's too slippery to play in our fields at the moment. Although today was milder so I took the opportunity to play and ride our 5 1/2 yr old 18hh Shire horse Stormy. With all the play going on with Solly and Tara for my L3 auditions, dear Stormy has had about 4 months off to mature a bit more. I had a lot of fun playing and then riding out on a short hack with him today and it always amazes me how he remembers everything I've taught him even with a long break ;-)
Hopefully when the weather gets a bit clearer I can get back to working on my freestyle with Solly. Roll on Springtime.
