Saturday was a pretty miserable day after raining all week, it was super windy and drizzling, but I needed to get at least a quick ride in. I was so excited to see Shadow after not seeing him all week. So we tacked up and rode in the open field in front of the farm. He was looky at first, being that there was the woods, a big yellow front loader and all the other horses are on that side of the farm. We did a few warm up circle and a lot of trotting. He was moving out nicely, but I ended it early because it was super windy. Happy he was being so consistent after having 3 days off sitting in his stall because of the rain. Sunday was another lazy day for me, I went to the barn but only to meet Dom and Mike because they were dropping off ground poles for me. Shadow needs to learn how to pick up his feet, and this will also help with his canter.
Monday my boss was away, so I was able to sneak out in the middle of the day to go ride. Dom was there working with Shannon and Nikko (she's always with us, I love it) I went out and moved all the horses around and got Shadow ready. We did about 10 minutes of lunging in side reins and then I got up. His trot was steady and consistent just as it was on Saturday. We worked on a couple canter strides and before I knew it we had been working for an hour and I had to get back to work! He is coming along so nicely, I really couldn't be more excited.
Yesterday was our lesson, Dom lunged him for about 10-15 minutes and we introduced the ground poles. First on the lunge, he was looking at them like they were going to come out and bite him and he was LEAPING over them. I couldn't help but laugh, he is so funny. Dom continued to lunge him over them until he was calm, and then she got on him to take him over them. His first try with her on him was great, he is hitting his feet a little but what can you expect this is the first time he has ever done this. He was going over them at the trot and cantering off of them, just as we had hoped. Dom didn't ride him last week because he was doing so well. She rode him around this week and said after not riding him for a week she feels a great improvement, which means I'm doing my homework. I took a minute to pat myself on the back and continued to watch them work. I finally got up, and he was doing great. We have noticed the more tired he gets, the more he falls apart, but that will come together with the more muscle he builds. His trot is becoming amazing, I think we are just a few lessons away from tackling the lurch completely and never seeing it again. (woohoo!!) We took a few laps over the ground poles and a lot of trotting. He is holding it all the way around the ring, several times. At one point I actually asked him to walk and looked at Dom and said "did I just trot this ring like 6 times" lol, I can't believe he is coming along so quickly.
Next week we are going to continue our trotting and ground poles of course. We are going to raise the middle pole to make him think about it a little more and start some cross rails. YAY!
Yesterday was a great lesson, and I can honestly say I get off of him smiling just about every time now. He gives me his all and I can't thank him enough for having such a big heart. :)
Hugs at the end of our lesson. I think he is sleeping. lol
Intro to ground poles. No complaints!
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