Thursday, February 7, 2008

Stretching Doooooown

Tuesday was wonderful. W/T round pen, left & right. 3 was the number of the day. His free warmup was good, side reins 5&6 also good.

I had a little fuss to the left, but the final two requests were pretty. Very forward - he didn't dwiddle along with a little WP jog to start, having to be forced to work at the trot.. Instead, he was very forward & energetic to start each request. Very much appreciated. Towards the end of the ride, rather than resting just behind the bit, he started leaning forward on it. I made a "deal" with him - if he was leaning down, and stretching down, I let the reins run through my hands. If he popped his head up & hollowed his back, I took the contact & short reins back.

Total work Tuesday - 55 minutes

Wednesday, we trimmed trees together. =) I climbed up on my Western saddle, English bridle & bit, and grabbed some manual tree limb snips. Up on Chewie's back, I reached up for the hanging branches that would interfere walking around the property, worked on his "air-brakes", and trimmed tree limbs. He never moved off, never avoided the work - I think, in fact, he liked it. It was more of a "utility job" rather than one requiring his full attention & muscle use. It was fun, for sure. Finished up the "work" with some leg yield, turns on forehand, turns on haunches. All was well.

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