Happy Thanksgiving!!!
What a beautiful day. Cold, but beautiful. Mike and I slept in. Ahhhh... it was so nice in our warm cozy bed with flannel sheets.. and the horses weren't making noise and banging about so I was able to sleep. Which was great, because... I think I'm getting sick. Ugh. Then I let it warm up a bit and took Dan for a ride and then I went back out with Funny!
We did a little bit of BTMM warm up in the arena... worked on our relationship to contact.. then did some pillar work... and then I hopped on and did some more contact work. Basically I just apply light pressure (squeeze the reins) until she softens, then immediately let go. A little bit of a cross between Celeste's bridle horse work and Tik's thoughts. If I want the pressure/contact at a 1... if she braces or hangs, I got to a 2, until she softens, and then we go back to 1. Or 0 for now. Until she learns to soften with a slight squeeze. I can confuse myself with it but I can also make it make sense in my brain how it teaches her that she has to soften but when she does, I do too. And then I can also make it make sense that I'm essentially teaching a half halt. And then eventually, when she softens... I can start getting actual contact vs just dropping her. I mean.. it seemed to work well for Dan and Lyric, so... why not try it on her. And so far.. so good.
So we pretty quickly went out on the trails. I didn't drill it on the trails but if she inverted, I did squeeze and ask her to soften. But I let her be on the buckle a good bit of the time and only had a very soft connection for a little bit. We had a nice hack. She wasn't super quick but did start out a bit more animated! And we had one or two random scoot/spooks. We had fun though. At the end I did let her trot a tiny bit and we practiced softening to the rein pressure but we didn't do it very long.
We finished up by the arena and I had planned to do a little arena work so we headed in. I started out again reiterating that when she inverts/braces/throws her head up, I squeeze until she softens. (And, I do worry a little bit when she goes behind the vertical, but honestly... she seemed to work out of it, so...we'll see if this is actually an issue or if it solves itself). We struggled a bit in the beginning but she eventually settled into it and seemed to get the new game and rules. (Sorry baby.. one of these days I'll stick to rules consistently all the time). So then we trotted. And we had to get a little heavy in the contact again more than not, but... over the course of the ride, it kept getting better! And sure, it reverted every time we changed direction or took a walk break, but... each time it did get better! We even cantered. And by the end of my ride, we had some really nice work where she was soft, in a good tempo, felt more balanced on her hind end, and was soft in the connection and I was able to send my hands forward and not have her tip or run! Wheeee!!! Maybe this is really gonna work out! We finished on a really good note and then I got my jacket back off the judges booth and fed her most of the cookies! Good pony!
We took a little hack around the jump arena and in the woods to cool down and then we headed home. I'm so proud of us. Honestly... a little bit me too. I'm trying. I'm really trying. And so is she. So... today felt like progress. And that's a good feeling! Now to keep trying out this plan and hopefully get my pivo going so I can see if I'm actually doing what I think I'm doing.
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