More Time To Work...

If you're new, click back to the first few posts to see how Max, my first horse, and I came to use Clinton Anderson's methods so I could get control on the ground and re-gain my lost confidence in the saddle after an incident last autumn.

MORE TIME TO WORK...

Yes!  Today we made more progress on the ground and good progress in the saddle.  Our groundwork is coming from Clinton Anderson's Gaining Respect and Control on the Ground-Series 2.  Our work in the saddle is from Riding With Confidence-Series 1.

We had quite a workout on the ground first.  We backed.  We yielded forequarters.  To the right we’re doing great.  To the left…still not so great.   We lunged just a few circles each way.  (We’re still not ready for Lungeing for Respect-Stage 2.)  Then, we sidepassed all the way down the fence, turned around and sidepassed back.  It’s still rocky.  But we’re getting there…slowly.

In the saddle, we backed, trotted and posted and cantered. 

We also yielded hindquarters at the standstill.  I had forgotten to practice this on the ground today, so I really wasn’t expecting much in the way of Max remembering our practice yesterday. 

But he did remember. 

We yielded a couple of steps on both sides.  Good Boy!  This was major for me because, if you remember, I’ve had such an issue with the teaching of it on the ground.  My problem with it was that I was slow to catch on to the movements I needed to do to teach it, which made it confusing for Max.

I guess it just goes to show, when I got over myself and just did it exactly like Clinton Anderson said to do it, it works.  Anyway, now that I have these small results, I’ll be practicing it consistently until we’ve got it down.

We definitely need to get back to more nice, long workouts…

Have a good ride

Greenhorn