Today me and Jonza explored the outdoor arena....She needed some encouragement to leave the indoor to explore the new scarey world of the outdoor. She was obviously very nervous...and she got all rilled up and didnt want to go over the last bit of snow that was in the shadows of the indoor. She also got a little spooky over some jump standards that were laying on the ground in the corner. She did a jump twirl sort of thing, no big deal. Overall I think she did a VERY good job :) Here are a few pictures of her *first* few steps in the outdoor:
Then after she was comfortable with all the new things to see, there was an obvious change in her overall demeanor:
She is such a sweet and willing girl. I've decided that we will be working on mostly walk, hault and trot for the next month or two. I want her to be very comfortable with these movements before even considering the canter. She has only actually cantered under the lounge line, or if she takes a misstep. I want to make sure that she is happy and confident before we move on. I think that is the best thing. So for now, we've been working on walk/hault for the first 15-20 minutes of our ride. It has been working very well to calm her nerves with all the *new* stuff popping up. When we hault, I make her stay until she settles, then we walk on. After she is being very calm in each hault, and walking forward but not rushing, I ask for the trot. If she immediately starts rushing or even feels frantic, we walk some more.
This process has been working very well, and because of it in the Outdoor she was very calm within 5 minutes of walking around and exploring. Once I have her good and relaxed with only a few minutes of walking warmup, then we will be working on more connection with the trot, bending, and such. She is such a quick learning I bet by the end of the summer I would be able to do a decent training level test with her :) That is the goal.
Oh i'm so excited :)
No comments:
Post a Comment