We trailered up to Iron Horse for the afternoon, had a great visit and tune-up lesson. Our first time traveling with Koda and Nemo since we brought them home found us in a huge traffic jam on the interstate, in the heat. 5 slow miles of 3 lane bumper-to-bumper, the fastest we went was 10 mph. Didn't seem to faze the boys just the humans, lots to look at I guess.
One of the first things trainer Patty asked me was "how did Koda load?" and to that I smiled and replied "he did great". I'm sure that's music to her ears, and mine. Thankful his loading issue is behind us, and hopefully stays that way.
It was sooo nice to ride with everyone at Iron Horse, in their huge outdoor level arena!! They had all kinds of fun practice trail stuff set-up. I didn't get around to using it alot, but Brad and Nemo did. I am sure we'll be seeing a few similar additions at our place in the future. Patty watched Nemo's gaits, and would like to see him back in a martingale to bring his head down and work on his top neck muscles.
She briefly helped me with the backing stuff Koda does, and mostly worked on his lope. I told her we had not worked on it much at home, combination of our terrain/weather. He is blocking with his shoulder. She got on him to fix it, and show me how. Wow is he ever pretty when she rides him!! He was a good boy for her, got many good boy pats and even an "I love you Koda". They love her too. I tried sooo hard to see his shoulder blocks from the ground....I only wish I could see what she see's. His combined head-thrusting is easy, but seeing his shoulder was hard. I need practice watching, and repetition - alot of it. It was much easier to feel (and therefore see) once I got on him. He did correct for me too, but I need to do it earlier, harder and consistantly. Nothing new there, it's something I'm sure I'll be working on for a long time. We got praised on our trot gait, and circles. We've done lots of that at home. Patty was really pleased with how Koda and Nemo looked, and responded. Can't wait until next time!!
Winter is here
1 day ago
4 comments:
The more you do it the easier it will be to see and .Sounds like a great visit and lesson
It's always good to have help and someone that will push us out of our comfort zones a little. Glad to see your willing to learn.
Lovely hearing all this...but sorry for the traffic misfortune. That stuff, I hate too..I do worry when in traffic w horses!
Nice to have such a great trainer...and waiting for the next reviews too...have a great weekend!
KK
Yeah for the loading! learning to feel/see the different things is always the hardest. I ride by feel, and I have to ride and ride and ride until it feels "right". Then I ask "do I have it now?" most generally I get "yup perfect!".
My trainer always tells me as soon as Bonnie or Rosie and I get something she yells out "do you feel that?" and I take time to keep going in and out of that feeling so I know it.
Sounds goofy but it works for me.
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