The boring yet important stuff. August 28, 2007
Posted by kimayars Arena Work (Horse)
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Today I spent a little over half an hour working with Ray on the ground. Riding is, of course, the fun part. But ground work is an essential that can’t be missed. The purpose was to make it uneventful. I duplicated what I did in my lesson on Monday. We walked, making sure that he stayed within my aids while we were on the ground, and then we did lots of desensitizing work around the mounting block. The reward? What took us an hour to do on Monday took us only 20 minutes today. Definitely a success!
The best part was we never “rode”. I mounted him from the block 4 or 5 times, but never walked forward. After the last time, I lead him over to his halter and removed the bridle and saddle. His expression was priceless: “Really? You mean that was IT?? Rock on!”
Patience is paying off, and I had a very snuggly pony afterwards. (Probably only looking for treats but I choose to believe that we have a deeper relationship than that — yeah right!!)
Logbook Activity
- Type: Other
- Date: 08/28/2007
- Time: 11:00:00
- Total Time: 00:35:00.00
Comments
[…] The girls only had a half-day of camp today, so that blew my chance to tack him up and work on our homework for the week. Instead, I went out to see him, clean him up, and *try* and fly spray him. I emphasize “try”. I should have had my Polar on as my heartrate got pretty darn high. I was reminded that Ray can be preeeety darn quick on his feet. […]