Renegade was too much fun today! We actually played twice and he was actually being quite the pest when I was trying to play with the other horses. He REALLY wanted to be the center of attention today.
I'm thinking the time off he's had lately while I spend more time with America is doing him a world of good. He really WANTS to play now and is offering me all kinds of things we struggled with for so long. For instance, today he offered canter circles in the circling game. We were playing with the trot and I gently asked for the canter with a lift of the rope and off he went. He did 4 laps before I asked him in...probably would have done more but I didn't want to push my luck!! It was the same in both directions. He also cantered circles with an obstacle both maintaining direction and gait for two laps in each direction. Hard to believe a few months ago I couldn't get him to do 1/4 lap at a canter!!
We played with figure 8's online at the trot for a bit as a refresher as we hadn't played with this for a while. I had to slow it down so I could get particular as Renegade kept wanting to make the figure 8's too flat. I wanted to really get him going straight through the center. Once we got that sorted out, Renegade decided to get fancy and do a sideways around the cone. He did it really nicely...I burst out laughing at which point he started nickering!!
I decided to try a little liberty with Renegade and we started out with touch it. I had him put his feet on the mounting block and then on the frisbees. He's good at putting his feet on things and it helps us connect and I wanted that connection for the figure 8's that were next.
We did the figure 8's at liberty at the walk, being particular. Renegade did a good job staying connected to me, looking for me when he came around the ends. I was careful to make sure I had the draw before I sent him through the middle as when he comes around the end that's when he will typically leave if we don't have a good connection. I'm happy to say...he didn't leave today!!
2 comments:
Love it, Kathy! Good for you and renegade!
Thanks December!! It was good and I think I'd been trying too hard with him...lately it's been more about play and he's responding really well to that. As hard as it is to admit, I think I was being way to direct line and predatory for him and it brought out the worst in him. I made a change and so did he!!
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