Cody's new found slowness is going to have to change I think. I realize he's not a spring chicken but it's not like I'm asking him to run several miles at a time. Just walk at a decent pace. I guess you get what you ask for, previous years he would only trot.
So after grooming and fly spray in the barn aisle we went out to the road. He was armed with boots so there were no excuses. But it was slow as usual, he really wanted to go back to the barn. I worked on just keeping his nose straight and letting up on any pressure when it was. When I asked for a trot he'd keep aiming himself for the ditch, trip because he couldn't see the ground as it was overgrown, and then use that as an excuse to walk slow again. After letting him do that a few times (my bad) I gave him a good thump in the sides on the way out of the ditch and all of a sudden we had a new gear (sure it was only 2nd gear so much for my thoughts to canter). We walked a bit further before I made him stop and stand for a while. I even let him munch on some grass as an incentive to enjoy being away from the barn.
When we turned around to head home it was time to work. I'm not sure if I made him do enough work but we did serpentines most of the way back. Granted he could have bent a lot better. Since he had quite a bit more momentum I also tried asking for some leg-yield (forward and diagonal at the same time), though his bend at times (toward the barn side of the road) made it more like a half-pass. I think we'll work on that every time we head back to the barn, I'm not sure he was crossing his legs over quite yet, hard to tell when you're on the horse.
And as usual when we got back to the barn it was time to try and back up. He refused to back down the driveway and J and J came home so we had to get out of the way. So I asked for a back up in the ditch. I'm not going to settle for the tiny hesitant step any more, I need at least a real full step. I don't like to pull on his mouth but tiny jiggling of the reins wasn't cutting it. When he finally backed up a few steps it was because I picked up the reins and pulled firmly. We'll be back on the ground working on the verbal cues for backing up I think. I'm racking up a big list of things to work on when we can't trail ride (winter, or rain, or groundwork days). Anyway I dismounted when he gave me 3 decent steps.
Of course I put his fly mask back on after having it off all weekend (while it was sunny) and now it's raining. Good timing I have. A had some new treats so she gave me a few to give to the boys, now that they aren't getting the work provided apples. They gobbled up the treats like they were going out of style.
Cody's New Goals
- Back up under saddle
- Move forward
- Halt on a dime
- Execute all commands immediately when asked
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