Slowly Slowing Down

 In working Ceylon today on the lunge we made some great breakthroughs. She has a tendency to throw tantrums when she gets frustrated or confused. Today was tantrum free, and considering the last session we had, quite the improvement. Our last lunge session was like one giant temper tantrum, it became the goal of the session to merely make it through her reactions to a level of calm I could reward and end on. I slowed way down today in working her on the lunging. A great thing about Ceylon is just how sensitive she is, which allows me to give small, mostly visual aids and she responds very quickly. This also makes it difficult at times to keep her at an even keel because she reacts to every small movement of the lunge or whip.

So we worked on desensitization to the whip today, building up to keeping her calm when I would crack it at her side. She made huge leaps and bounds today, and managed to keep her feet still by the end. We then moved on to some simple lunging. Walk and trot, both sides, along with halting squarely. She still has the tendency to turn her hindquarters away to turn and face me. She maintained a good steady rhythm on the lunge. Overall a great session.

I can’t help but to think what a wonderful riding horse she will be, because she has a very loving nature and is in general predictable and reliable.

I took Scout for a ride today down the road and through the soybean field next door too. His biggest challenge right now, aside from physical fitness, is his habit of resisting in the neck. He puts up a good block to any lateral bending of the neck, and uses his weight to keep from elevating his neck. So we worked on breaking through this resistance today as we trotted about the field. I also did some seat work, something I badly need to do this spring.

Then working Jobi on the lunge, I took him out in the field. I want to start getting him out on the trails this year, and I think a good place to start is lunging him in the fields. He has little confidence still under saddle, despite having a couple of years of consistent training with me. I took him out last fall and ponied him off of Scout. Jobi did well for the most part, though seemed quite disturbed when he got a branch of Burdock stuck to his legs and tail. He managed to work through it and we were back to the trail again.

Until tomorrow…