Having flown in from Calgary I was feeling a little tired yesterday so just had a bit of fun with Filly. More sideways on a circle was the aim of the day.
Circles don't all have to be large of course. I did repeat some of the previous sessions exercises on a 22 foot rope, getting her to go sideways such that she could avoid going over a pole, but also added in some very close sideways. This is almost like asking for a hind quarter yield, but continuously such that she goes in a circle around me whilst facing me at all times. I used the driving game with the carrot stick on the hind quarters and made a Savvy breakthrough for me. I found that rather than just waving the stick randomly at the hind legs if I timed the stick so that it approached the hind legs as she crossed the nearest leg to the stick through it made way more sense to her. Obvious really, and I have seen Pat getting his timing right on DVDs but never really appreciated how important it was.
I also started on getting her to sidepass whilst walking next to her. This has two purposes. First it will help her to yield to pressure and not invade humans space and second it will be the start of all the sideways movements she will need to do when ridden. I was surprised how quickly she picked this up.
Using the same pole I had previously been using for sideways on the circling game I lead her, with me in zone one, towards the pole and stopped as we got there. Then I turned just my head, not my shoulders, to focus over the top of her neck in the direction I wish to go. I then crossed my legs over towards her and at the same time used my shoulder to ask for a fore quarter yield. My outside hand had my carrot stick held out horizontally behind me. This made me in to a "long body". I could then gently drive the hind quarters sideways with very light taps on the hips. With the pole providing a visual cue I was surprised when after just a few minutes she understood what I wanted and neatly side passed with me. This is just the start of course. We have only done it in one direction, and eventually I want to get away from using the both the pole and the stick. The ultimate is to get her to move her front legs in time with mine, but this might be a while !!
Circles don't all have to be large of course. I did repeat some of the previous sessions exercises on a 22 foot rope, getting her to go sideways such that she could avoid going over a pole, but also added in some very close sideways. This is almost like asking for a hind quarter yield, but continuously such that she goes in a circle around me whilst facing me at all times. I used the driving game with the carrot stick on the hind quarters and made a Savvy breakthrough for me. I found that rather than just waving the stick randomly at the hind legs if I timed the stick so that it approached the hind legs as she crossed the nearest leg to the stick through it made way more sense to her. Obvious really, and I have seen Pat getting his timing right on DVDs but never really appreciated how important it was.
I also started on getting her to sidepass whilst walking next to her. This has two purposes. First it will help her to yield to pressure and not invade humans space and second it will be the start of all the sideways movements she will need to do when ridden. I was surprised how quickly she picked this up.
Using the same pole I had previously been using for sideways on the circling game I lead her, with me in zone one, towards the pole and stopped as we got there. Then I turned just my head, not my shoulders, to focus over the top of her neck in the direction I wish to go. I then crossed my legs over towards her and at the same time used my shoulder to ask for a fore quarter yield. My outside hand had my carrot stick held out horizontally behind me. This made me in to a "long body". I could then gently drive the hind quarters sideways with very light taps on the hips. With the pole providing a visual cue I was surprised when after just a few minutes she understood what I wanted and neatly side passed with me. This is just the start of course. We have only done it in one direction, and eventually I want to get away from using the both the pole and the stick. The ultimate is to get her to move her front legs in time with mine, but this might be a while !!
No comments:
Post a Comment