Knightly play time
Today I played with Knightly. It was interesting. He is defiantly getting more friendly!! He came over to the gate and just stood there while I climbed in. He is still shedding out some of his winter fur. He has a big brown patch on his back where his winter coat it still there. But I am happy that he is black!! Now he just needs to grow more [which he will ;)] and my mom will have her tall, black horse!!
We played up in the riding ring. There were a couple things that my mom wanted me to do with him because she was having trouble with them. We started with some driving game on the forequarters. Then we did some circles. Knightly trotted two circles then I asked him to slow down to a walk. At first he didn't really know what I wanted and stopped and looked at me. So I re-sent him. We played with that for a bit. Until he could go from the trot to a walk with out stopping and looking at me, Then I asked him to canter. he cantered a whole lap!!! Wow! I wasn't expecting that!! I brought him in for a rest. I wanted to make sure his transitions were really good so I sent him back out after he had had a rest. His trot to walk transitions were AMAZING! I just relaxed and wiggled the rope a little and he slowed down.
While he was walking and trotting around I started shortening the rope a little so that he would have to circle closer to me. Knightly did pretty good with that. When he got with in about 5ft he wasn't sure what to do but he soon figured it out.
One of the things that my mom was having trouble with was that Knightly wouldn't put his nose on anything when they were playing Touch it. He would put his foot on it but nothing else. So I sat on the pedestal [yeah I am lazy ;)] and I send him to the tire that we have standing up by the fence it was about 20ft from the pedestal where I was sitting. At first he kind of just stood there not interested at all so I would ask him to take a step forward or move closer to it and every time he put his nose even just a little bit closer to it I relaxed and stopped asking him. Pretty soon he caught on and he put his nose right on it and checked it out!!! Then he looked at me and asked a question! He is so cute!! I brought him and waited for him to think about then we went to other things checking them out. Knightly really quickly caught on to the fact that I wanted him to put his nose on the thing.
We then went and did some sideways. This is were it gets even more interesting! Knightly would go sideways about 2 steps and then turn his hind quarters to me and walk straight. OH BOY! So I had to catch it before he had a chance to do that. I had to tag him a couple times but then he got worried and started running off. So we went around the riding ring trying to get sideways. He would give me a couple really nice steps then it would get all messed up. But finally some how we got through that and got somewhere. I gave him all the 22ft on rope and got really soft and then after about 10ft he would go sideways really nice. So I would give him a long rest then go the other way. He had a harder time on the right side but we stuck with it till he could go sideways evenly on both sides. I let him have a long rest and a chance to think about all that.
Then we went to figure 8's, the other thing that my mom was having a little bit of trouble with. Knightly would pin his ears when he was going in between the barrels. So we started out slow and ever time he put his ears back I would shut him down then ask him to go again. Pretty soon he was trying to figure out what I wanted. He was moving his ears back and forth so I left him. The figure 8 pattern wasn't very pretty but I didn't care Knightly was trying to figure it out. Every now and then he would stop at the barrel and sniff it and paw it. I let him until he lost interest in it then we carried on. I wanted him to be curios because that it what I want when we are playing Touch it. Knightly was asking lots of questions too. It was great!! At the end our figure 8's were amazing! Knightly even offered to trot!!!
We ended there. So all in all it was a pretty good play time. It really challenged me and made me think hard!! It was good though!
~K
We played up in the riding ring. There were a couple things that my mom wanted me to do with him because she was having trouble with them. We started with some driving game on the forequarters. Then we did some circles. Knightly trotted two circles then I asked him to slow down to a walk. At first he didn't really know what I wanted and stopped and looked at me. So I re-sent him. We played with that for a bit. Until he could go from the trot to a walk with out stopping and looking at me, Then I asked him to canter. he cantered a whole lap!!! Wow! I wasn't expecting that!! I brought him in for a rest. I wanted to make sure his transitions were really good so I sent him back out after he had had a rest. His trot to walk transitions were AMAZING! I just relaxed and wiggled the rope a little and he slowed down.
While he was walking and trotting around I started shortening the rope a little so that he would have to circle closer to me. Knightly did pretty good with that. When he got with in about 5ft he wasn't sure what to do but he soon figured it out.
One of the things that my mom was having trouble with was that Knightly wouldn't put his nose on anything when they were playing Touch it. He would put his foot on it but nothing else. So I sat on the pedestal [yeah I am lazy ;)] and I send him to the tire that we have standing up by the fence it was about 20ft from the pedestal where I was sitting. At first he kind of just stood there not interested at all so I would ask him to take a step forward or move closer to it and every time he put his nose even just a little bit closer to it I relaxed and stopped asking him. Pretty soon he caught on and he put his nose right on it and checked it out!!! Then he looked at me and asked a question! He is so cute!! I brought him and waited for him to think about then we went to other things checking them out. Knightly really quickly caught on to the fact that I wanted him to put his nose on the thing.
We then went and did some sideways. This is were it gets even more interesting! Knightly would go sideways about 2 steps and then turn his hind quarters to me and walk straight. OH BOY! So I had to catch it before he had a chance to do that. I had to tag him a couple times but then he got worried and started running off. So we went around the riding ring trying to get sideways. He would give me a couple really nice steps then it would get all messed up. But finally some how we got through that and got somewhere. I gave him all the 22ft on rope and got really soft and then after about 10ft he would go sideways really nice. So I would give him a long rest then go the other way. He had a harder time on the right side but we stuck with it till he could go sideways evenly on both sides. I let him have a long rest and a chance to think about all that.
Then we went to figure 8's, the other thing that my mom was having a little bit of trouble with. Knightly would pin his ears when he was going in between the barrels. So we started out slow and ever time he put his ears back I would shut him down then ask him to go again. Pretty soon he was trying to figure out what I wanted. He was moving his ears back and forth so I left him. The figure 8 pattern wasn't very pretty but I didn't care Knightly was trying to figure it out. Every now and then he would stop at the barrel and sniff it and paw it. I let him until he lost interest in it then we carried on. I wanted him to be curios because that it what I want when we are playing Touch it. Knightly was asking lots of questions too. It was great!! At the end our figure 8's were amazing! Knightly even offered to trot!!!
We ended there. So all in all it was a pretty good play time. It really challenged me and made me think hard!! It was good though!
~K