It has taken a while coming, largely due to the state of the road outside the farm. They resurfaced it a year ago, but left it so smooth that horses regularly slip on it. When Filly was shod she had road nails put on to help with this, so I now felt confident to take her out the gate. The last thing I wanted is for the first impression she had of hacking out was to slip over.
All the usual prepare to ride steps were taken, with emphasis still on the porcupine yields. They have improved considerably since I last wrote. I now tend to do them as part of the indirect / direct rein manoeuvre. To achieve I walk straight forwards with her on say my right side, I then maintain my ryhthm with my legs but slow down my speed and ask Filly to walk around in front of me. As she does so I lightly press with my fingers well behind the girth to ask for the hind quarter disengagement. As she disengages I walk "through" her hind quarters and use the lead rope to ask the front end to come around. She is now on the other side of me walking forwards as before.
This seems to give a) a purpose and b) a known duration for the yield and as a result she accepts it with less mental brace.
Having mounted her we immediately went for a nice forward walk, she tried to speed up a few times but soon gave up on that idea. We worked on inside leg isolations as usual which are going very very well now.
We did around 5 minutes trotting at one point, again with loads of inside leg isolations. At the end of this she felt to be in a really good place for a short hack.
Ritchie was riding Bonitao in the school and when I suggested a hack she agreed. I managed to get Filly to help me open the gate, which gave purpose to all sorts of little manoeuvres we needed to make.
Once out of the yard I expected Filly to be most comfortable tucked in behind Bonitao so that he could give her confidence. Not a bit of it, she wanted to be in front and to go exploring. Her walk was really forwards and she was thinking forwards the whole time. She got a little worried from time to time, but as I rigidly maintained my focus on where we were going I have no idea what about. She never once spooked, although we did get a few muscle twitches. I was very proud of how she kept herself together emotionally despite all the new sights, noises and smells. Poor Bonitao could barely keep up with her walk and we had to stop a few times. Her sense of exploration really showed itself when we came to a tight bend in the road. I wanted to stop, but she resisted until we were around the corner. Curiosity satisfied we waited for Bonitao to catch up.
All in all a good days riding, which again highlighted the importance of a good focus.
All the usual prepare to ride steps were taken, with emphasis still on the porcupine yields. They have improved considerably since I last wrote. I now tend to do them as part of the indirect / direct rein manoeuvre. To achieve I walk straight forwards with her on say my right side, I then maintain my ryhthm with my legs but slow down my speed and ask Filly to walk around in front of me. As she does so I lightly press with my fingers well behind the girth to ask for the hind quarter disengagement. As she disengages I walk "through" her hind quarters and use the lead rope to ask the front end to come around. She is now on the other side of me walking forwards as before.
This seems to give a) a purpose and b) a known duration for the yield and as a result she accepts it with less mental brace.
Having mounted her we immediately went for a nice forward walk, she tried to speed up a few times but soon gave up on that idea. We worked on inside leg isolations as usual which are going very very well now.
We did around 5 minutes trotting at one point, again with loads of inside leg isolations. At the end of this she felt to be in a really good place for a short hack.
Ritchie was riding Bonitao in the school and when I suggested a hack she agreed. I managed to get Filly to help me open the gate, which gave purpose to all sorts of little manoeuvres we needed to make.
Once out of the yard I expected Filly to be most comfortable tucked in behind Bonitao so that he could give her confidence. Not a bit of it, she wanted to be in front and to go exploring. Her walk was really forwards and she was thinking forwards the whole time. She got a little worried from time to time, but as I rigidly maintained my focus on where we were going I have no idea what about. She never once spooked, although we did get a few muscle twitches. I was very proud of how she kept herself together emotionally despite all the new sights, noises and smells. Poor Bonitao could barely keep up with her walk and we had to stop a few times. Her sense of exploration really showed itself when we came to a tight bend in the road. I wanted to stop, but she resisted until we were around the corner. Curiosity satisfied we waited for Bonitao to catch up.
All in all a good days riding, which again highlighted the importance of a good focus.
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