Another good day with Billy. Plan went to plan so to speak and I remembered to include zone 3 driving again as preparation for follow the rail. The sun was setting and glaring down the school so I was expecting problems and to be honest there were a few in the online driving. I made the sunny end the place of rest and after a few laps he was seeking out that corner.
After mounting the lateral flexions were much improved, but still a brace of his neck and a tendency to nibble my boot on the left. I also did some nine step backup which worked really well. Indirect rein was not as soft today but acceptable.
Initially asking for follow the rail he was not happy at all to go towards the sun, so rather than just fight I redirected his energy across the school, and when we had some momentum then asked to go towards the sun. Still hesitant but by maintaining my focus on the spot I wanted to go to we made it, albeit via the middle of the school, not the rail. Next time round was better and the next near perfect.
The power of focussing on the destination never ceases to amaze me but it does take discipline and confidence to achieve when there is an unconfident horse prancing about under you. It is so hard to not break focus and look at them. You must keep all your bodies energy pointing towards the required spot. Should you break focus, of course, you will increase the horses anxiety as they will feel they do not have a proper leader directing them. It really helps to have a helper in this situation to make sure you maintain focus. Ritchie had to remind me at least twice today !!
As an exercise in improving Billy's inclination to follow my focus we also did some more figure 8 and point to point patterns. All went pretty well and he only head butted the wall once today proving even Billy has a learning curve.
After mounting the lateral flexions were much improved, but still a brace of his neck and a tendency to nibble my boot on the left. I also did some nine step backup which worked really well. Indirect rein was not as soft today but acceptable.
Initially asking for follow the rail he was not happy at all to go towards the sun, so rather than just fight I redirected his energy across the school, and when we had some momentum then asked to go towards the sun. Still hesitant but by maintaining my focus on the spot I wanted to go to we made it, albeit via the middle of the school, not the rail. Next time round was better and the next near perfect.
The power of focussing on the destination never ceases to amaze me but it does take discipline and confidence to achieve when there is an unconfident horse prancing about under you. It is so hard to not break focus and look at them. You must keep all your bodies energy pointing towards the required spot. Should you break focus, of course, you will increase the horses anxiety as they will feel they do not have a proper leader directing them. It really helps to have a helper in this situation to make sure you maintain focus. Ritchie had to remind me at least twice today !!
As an exercise in improving Billy's inclination to follow my focus we also did some more figure 8 and point to point patterns. All went pretty well and he only head butted the wall once today proving even Billy has a learning curve.
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