A few nights ago I decided to continue my practise of ponying with our two horses, Filly and Bonitao.
As Bonitao is the more advanced riding horse my wife and I decided I should ride her horse Bonitao and pony Filly.
Ritchie did the prepare to ride on Bonitao whilst I did a little pole work online with Filly. Once Bonitao was ready I mounted and made sure that he was responsive when ridden, especially to the leg aids as my hands were to be fully occupied
Once handed Filly we started just leading her around. The aim for this was just to get her to walk alongside us in a calm way, not getting behind or in front. Zone 3 driving form horseback. I started with all turns away from Filly as this seemed easiest, but didn't want to do this too long as I am then giving Filly the impression that she is driving Bonitao away all the time.
Once this was established we went to turning into her. As expected she did not like this so much and gave a sour face. Bonitao was not entirely up to the task of countering her on hos own so I used the flag, in my free hand, to help him out. One of the things Josh impressed on me was that I was responsible for looking after both of them. So if Filly tried to drive Bonitao I should protect Bonitao. If Bonitao tried to drive Filly then it depended on the circumstances. If I had asked for it then let him and back him up as needed, if not defend Filly. But also don't let Bonitao get too strong with Filly.
Pretty soon they both understood their jobs and we had some nice circles in both directions.
I also tried to do an indirect/direct rein exercise. This is very tricky, and more so with Filly. To explain the manoeuvre I'll start at the beginning
1) Have horses stand next to each other.
2) Filly stays still whilst I ride Bonitao around her nose and then aim his nose into her opposite flank
3) Drive Filly's hind quarters away by riding Bonitao's nose into her hind quarters so that she steps the near hind under her body until she has turned enough to give me her other eye.
4) Ride out in a straight line so Filly has to step the front legs over in a fore quarter yield.
The snag was that whenever I started to move Bonitao around Filly's nose Filly did not stand still. She is so good at stick to me that she just moved off with us
We did manage it once and it was pretty good, but definitely work in progress.
One of the other problems was getting Bonitao to understand when the flag we being applied to him and when it was for Filly. I asked James about this once and he said that over time they start to understand where the intention is aimed and then see the flag as a helping hand.
As Bonitao is the more advanced riding horse my wife and I decided I should ride her horse Bonitao and pony Filly.
Ritchie did the prepare to ride on Bonitao whilst I did a little pole work online with Filly. Once Bonitao was ready I mounted and made sure that he was responsive when ridden, especially to the leg aids as my hands were to be fully occupied
Once handed Filly we started just leading her around. The aim for this was just to get her to walk alongside us in a calm way, not getting behind or in front. Zone 3 driving form horseback. I started with all turns away from Filly as this seemed easiest, but didn't want to do this too long as I am then giving Filly the impression that she is driving Bonitao away all the time.
Once this was established we went to turning into her. As expected she did not like this so much and gave a sour face. Bonitao was not entirely up to the task of countering her on hos own so I used the flag, in my free hand, to help him out. One of the things Josh impressed on me was that I was responsible for looking after both of them. So if Filly tried to drive Bonitao I should protect Bonitao. If Bonitao tried to drive Filly then it depended on the circumstances. If I had asked for it then let him and back him up as needed, if not defend Filly. But also don't let Bonitao get too strong with Filly.
Pretty soon they both understood their jobs and we had some nice circles in both directions.
I also tried to do an indirect/direct rein exercise. This is very tricky, and more so with Filly. To explain the manoeuvre I'll start at the beginning
1) Have horses stand next to each other.
2) Filly stays still whilst I ride Bonitao around her nose and then aim his nose into her opposite flank
3) Drive Filly's hind quarters away by riding Bonitao's nose into her hind quarters so that she steps the near hind under her body until she has turned enough to give me her other eye.
4) Ride out in a straight line so Filly has to step the front legs over in a fore quarter yield.
The snag was that whenever I started to move Bonitao around Filly's nose Filly did not stand still. She is so good at stick to me that she just moved off with us
We did manage it once and it was pretty good, but definitely work in progress.
One of the other problems was getting Bonitao to understand when the flag we being applied to him and when it was for Filly. I asked James about this once and he said that over time they start to understand where the intention is aimed and then see the flag as a helping hand.
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