Last day for the week

Saturday I was anxious to see how our bonding would affect our ride. Toby seemed excited to see me again.

We went into the arena just as the neighbors took up target shooting practice. "Oh, this should be FUN." LOL. You can imagine how amazed I was when Toby didn't even react. HMMMMM, we really must be on to something.

Again, I didn't want to push Toby too hard because he had been going so well. We warmed up and again he was really relaxed. I climbed aboard and off we went.

We leg yielded, we serpentined, we halted, we troted, we extended, we collected. Please don't let it end. THIS IS AWESOME!!!

Again, I tried to focus on staying relaxed and not using my hands excessively. It was working. My hands were better, my seat and legs were nore effective and Toby was responding in kind.

My instructor had another lesson with a young rider for the last 1/2 of our ride. The rider and pony we trotting around us complete with a some spooking. Toby didn't seem to notice. He was focused on the task at hand and never faltered. WOW!! Go Toby.

I asked him to canter on the 20 meter circle and we were absolutely floating. It was so nice, in fact, that my instructor enthusiastically commented on how nice he looked from across the arena while still instructor her other student. I think she was as pleased as I was with how well he was doing.

We are done for the week. And what a week it was. Lesson learned: You CAN actually be extremely effective with your seat and legs. I also learned that Toby does much better when he works more consistenly. He is really intelligent and needs to exercise his brain frequently to maintain his sanity.

Hopefully, the progress will continue. More to follow soon.

You're back...

I showed up at the barn on Thursday. Toby looked totally shocked. Three days in a row. Are you kidding? My goals today... more work on seat, legs and hands, better half halts and balace at the canter.

I tacked Toby up and away we went. I'm sure he was feeling the same way I was. Who's dumb idea was it to ride some many times this week. "I promise we are not going to work too hard today buddy."

We walked around for about 10 - 15 minutes before moving on to the trot. In the trot, Toby was very sluggish. He didn't want to move forward in his normal ground covering trot, but he at least tried. We did our normal warm up and attempted some 3-loop serpentines. Toby was pretty tried and more than willing to maintain his slow but consistent rhythm. We changed rein with each loop and he willing responded.

Note to self: "Tired Toby = No fits. HMMMMMM. Could we be on to something? I think so.

We cantered with quite a bit of encouragement from my seat and legs. Today was definitely not the day to be heavy handed. I shifted my attention to my aids. His canter was nice and rhythmical, well balanced and deep in the corners. Oh my goodness. This is awesome!!!! He is incredible.

While this may be a little step for most, this is MAJOR progress for us. I think we may have moved into a new realm. It only took 3 consecutive days of riding, but we have a relaxed and happy horse.

I went out to see Toby on Friday. I think his face dropped. I'm pretty sure he was thinking, "You have GOT to be kidding me. We have to do this AGAIN."

Instead of riding, I took Toby into the indoor and turned him loose. He just stood there and looked at me like I was nuts. Then he took off across the arena kicking up his heels all the way. He pranced around and launched himself into the air with all 4 feet. We played for about 15 minutes and did some bonding. I itched all of his itchy spots and he nuzzled me back. It was so much fun. After our play time, I took Toby out to the cross ties and groomed him. Treats and back to the stall we went. As I was getting ready to leave, Toby came over, bright eyed and happy, to nuzzle my neck as if to say "Wow, that was fun. Thanks for playing." I patted his neck and told him I would see him again on Saturday.

Wednesday and all is well

After our lesson on Tuesday, I decided that I needed to work on my half halts. My biggest problem is using too much hand and not enough seat and legs. While this is not always the case, I have for some reverted back to this recently. The problem is that Toby already likes to evade the contact and my hands being too strong does not help that at all.

I rode on Wednesday and Thursday with my primary focus being my seat, legs and hands. On Wednesday, we continued working on our leg yields along the wall and from centerline. With my new focus, Toby seemed much more willing to oblige my request and gracefully moved away from my legs (of course better to the right than left, but much improved in both directions).

Amazing, use your body correctly and the rest falls in place. What a novel concept. It can't be this easy.

We moved on to some halt, trot, halt transitions. Again focusing on using my seat and legs more and my hands less. Again, Toby willingly responded while staying on the contact and not throwing his head like he had been.

Hmmmmmm, could I be causing his head throwing? That's it. He tells on me when my hands are too strong. Wouldn't you protest if someone yanked on your mouth with a hard metal thing. Not like I didn't already know this, but apparently I needed a brick wall dropped on my head.

We did some canter work. More seat and legs + less hands = nice transition/no head throwing. Awesome. We'll call it a day. Good Boy Toby. Thank you for your patience. You're the best.

More positives

I think we may have stumbled onto something with Toby. Now that the weather has broken, I have been able to go out to the barn more. I was able to ride Toby 4 days this week.

On Tuesday, things went well. We worked on maintaining our rhythm while in a relaxed frame. He leg yielded along the wall in both directions without much trouble. He did, however, start showing that he does not like tracking left. We are working to supple that side. After some additional leg yields, we moved on to tracking straight and lengthening our stride on the long sides and collection in the cornes and along the short side. He willingly moved forward when asked without falling on his forehand. When asked to come back, he also maintained the contact without much fuss.

We moved onto the canter and he was definitely willing to move forward at that point. We did have a little trouble balancing while cantering, but overall not bad and no bucking in the depart. During the canter, my half halts were too strong and Toby broke. He did willing pick the canter up again though and we moved on. We did a decent downward transition to the trot and some nice extensions following. He was really relaxed and willing, so I was thrilled. This was all to the right.

Half circle reverse and now we are going to our bad side. I really hate that we are having so much trouble this direction, but practice makes perfect. Right? LOL.

Tracking left was better this time. We used the whole arena and managed to maintain our balance a little better. Unfortunately, my half halts didn't get much better this way. He tried to accomodate my request but I was too strong and he threw his head and we lost our balance for a few strides. We were able to re-group and end our canter work on a positive. We finished our lesson with a small stretch down circle. Toby was willing to take the contact and stretch a little. A major step for him.

Fresh Start

We continued our progress on Saturday (4/2). Toby and I worked on more leg yielding. We did some trot, halt, trot transitions. Toby stayed on the contact without pulling on me. We did a little canter work and called it a day.

I wanted to reward him for his hard work. Another day down and progress being made.