Lesson on Keane
Trucked Keane in for our first lesson together in 6 months. He loaded up like a champ, unloaded and walked into Michele's barn like he'd never left. I lunged him briefly to warm up, and hopped on. Ok, I didn't "hop on," I mounted properly, of course. Here, as well as at home, he's been excellent for mounting and dismounting, standing quietly and waiting for me to get on or off before moving off. I keep harping on that because I appreciate it so damn much.
Then, as we moved off, he did his llama walk. The pacey, lateral walk with his head stuck in the air. My nerves were showing through. Michele had me do a slight counter bend down the long side in each direction, then had me come onto a 20 meter circle (actually, more like 18m, so the circle was "my idea," meaning the steering) and go right into the trot. She said I should do most of my work in the trot for now, until I'm more confident and he's steadier into the bridle. It's so damn easy to ruin the walk.
The trot work was ok, Michele had me mostly focus on maintaining a steady rhythm, and once I'd relaxed a little, had me start widening my hands to help channel him into the bridle. Once he steadied, he dropped his head and I was able to bring my hands together again. I thought about my lesson on Maggie, where Michele said not to give her so many options (to not be straight), and that helped me with Keane; widening my hands and keeping the rhythm limited Keane's options for wiggling around.
We trotted around in both directions, did some quick down and up transitions from trot to walk and trot again, as well as a few halts. Having Keane be so well behaved boosted my confidence a little bit more--I'm still waiting for that big spook or blow up to happen so I can ride through it and just get over it already.
Then, as we moved off, he did his llama walk. The pacey, lateral walk with his head stuck in the air. My nerves were showing through. Michele had me do a slight counter bend down the long side in each direction, then had me come onto a 20 meter circle (actually, more like 18m, so the circle was "my idea," meaning the steering) and go right into the trot. She said I should do most of my work in the trot for now, until I'm more confident and he's steadier into the bridle. It's so damn easy to ruin the walk.
The trot work was ok, Michele had me mostly focus on maintaining a steady rhythm, and once I'd relaxed a little, had me start widening my hands to help channel him into the bridle. Once he steadied, he dropped his head and I was able to bring my hands together again. I thought about my lesson on Maggie, where Michele said not to give her so many options (to not be straight), and that helped me with Keane; widening my hands and keeping the rhythm limited Keane's options for wiggling around.
We trotted around in both directions, did some quick down and up transitions from trot to walk and trot again, as well as a few halts. Having Keane be so well behaved boosted my confidence a little bit more--I'm still waiting for that big spook or blow up to happen so I can ride through it and just get over it already.
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