I saddled up Maddie fairly early today and walked out from the barn on trails that she is not familiar with. Maddie was very spooky around some garden-variety obstacles--piles of manure, a bench covered with a tarp for the winter, and a bag caught in the bushes. She backed up hard and dangerous, and I was frustrated with her. This continued for the next 30 minutes, which was the distance to our planned practice area. This set of trails did not have a lot of opportunity for trot/canter, and without being warmed up she had a lot of difficulty dealing with scary stuff. Hope we made some progress.
In Jane's outdoor arena we alternated between trot/canter transitions, lateral work at the walk, and simple lead changes. This was the first time I attempted lead changes, and I was very pleased. I was doing figure 8's with about 15m circles, and she picked up her leads 100%. At the walk her renvers/travers and half pass are really coming along.
Our ride home was easy. I made her walk past the property several times before hopping off and putting her away.
No comments:
Post a Comment