Training Continues
I scheduled Z's lesson for Tuesday this week because I have my Dr's appointment Thursday. She was a little "up" and extra aware of the traffic when I unloaded her and lead her in. Nothing bad, but I was expecting some more forward and energy out of her when I bridled her up and started double-lungeing her. With the blinders on she settled right in and was actually a bit sluggish and requires a couple of taps to really pick up the canter. It's funny because when she lags in the canter she elevates more and collects rather than getting strung out and disjointed.
She warmed up really nice so we pulled out our false shafts (pvc pipes) and jury-rigged them to the harness because my shaft loops are on Charm-N's harness. I ground drove her around the arena. She had a slight issue passing the big, metal water bucket in the drylot turnout next to the arena. I let her own momentum carry and turned her back and forth towards it until she decided it wasn't worth the energy and walked by without much fuss. I took her over some ground poles and while she did suggest going crooked at first it didn't take much to straighten her out, possibly because the blinders provide limited visual "options" for her to avoid them. I also took her over some cavelleti that were about 6" high. I am not sure if she could have cared less about the pipes hitting, sliding, and dropping over the rails.
The one funny step she did with the false shafts was while I kicked them around a bit. I hit it just right and when it hit her thigh the timing was such that it affected how she placed the foot (swung it a bit more inside than she initially intended), but that was it.
I had her in all three gaits with them and had some lovely transitions forward and back. Michelle is giving the green light to hook her. Tentatively I have Tuesday and Thursday scheduled for the final two lessons until March. Chris is off Tuesday and I need to ask him about assisting with the first hitching and possibly snapping a picture or two. Thursday I'd like to ground drive her around Michelle's neighborhood to see how she does ground driving on the road, which I haven't done much of anything with yet.
So next week possibly our first time put to the cart, a neighborhood jaunt (sans cart), and then a pause for two months. I need to take her for some walks and do some work at home in the interim, but Z has proven she can sit and retain (the last two or three lessons I haven't had the chance to work her between).
She warmed up really nice so we pulled out our false shafts (pvc pipes) and jury-rigged them to the harness because my shaft loops are on Charm-N's harness. I ground drove her around the arena. She had a slight issue passing the big, metal water bucket in the drylot turnout next to the arena. I let her own momentum carry and turned her back and forth towards it until she decided it wasn't worth the energy and walked by without much fuss. I took her over some ground poles and while she did suggest going crooked at first it didn't take much to straighten her out, possibly because the blinders provide limited visual "options" for her to avoid them. I also took her over some cavelleti that were about 6" high. I am not sure if she could have cared less about the pipes hitting, sliding, and dropping over the rails.
The one funny step she did with the false shafts was while I kicked them around a bit. I hit it just right and when it hit her thigh the timing was such that it affected how she placed the foot (swung it a bit more inside than she initially intended), but that was it.
I had her in all three gaits with them and had some lovely transitions forward and back. Michelle is giving the green light to hook her. Tentatively I have Tuesday and Thursday scheduled for the final two lessons until March. Chris is off Tuesday and I need to ask him about assisting with the first hitching and possibly snapping a picture or two. Thursday I'd like to ground drive her around Michelle's neighborhood to see how she does ground driving on the road, which I haven't done much of anything with yet.
So next week possibly our first time put to the cart, a neighborhood jaunt (sans cart), and then a pause for two months. I need to take her for some walks and do some work at home in the interim, but Z has proven she can sit and retain (the last two or three lessons I haven't had the chance to work her between).