We started out on the 45' today; my first time playing with it in front of someone. She said we were off to a good start, but pointed out a few areas that would be good to work on. One was bringing him in to me; we have been trying to focus on it lately but he is still having trouble following the feel. She noted that I am not able to run up to him in any zone to play the friend'y game; in order to have him be more confident trotting towards me, I should practice the running friendly game. Makes sense!
Another point she brought up is that if I can't get responsiveness on a 12' line or 22', then it won't come on the 45'. Duh. Just like how we test everything online before we ride, I should test responsiveness at a shorter distance before trying it on the 45'. Lightbulb! We played with the 'snappy game' that she showed me a few lessons ago. Although this time it wasn't so much about the back as it was about the response. Again, I need to make things a game! Although Sonny was backing from phase 1, he wasn't putting very much effort in at all. So I did a really subtle phase 1, 2, 3, don't make me move my feet, phase 4! After a few of those, he stood at attention and gave me a really great face. Huh, how interesting!
Along with that, she encouraged me to start playing more with his faces. Again with backing, back him up until he asks a question or has a better face, then reward. I need to make backing seem like something other than a punishment, which I feel like might be how he interperates it.
Finally we played with some sideways. After the snappy game, he was really focused on me. We went sideways his bad direction and it was beautiful! He went so far and barely went forward. Definitely out best sideways that way. So exciting!
After that I got on and we played with all of the same concepts. Being snappy and responsive. He was totally focused on eating, zero attention on me as we followed the rail. We transitioned to sideways game along the rail. Juli wanted me to focus on seeing how he responded to each of my phases. In the beginning he was just "nom nom nom" grass!! After a few minutes, we had him thinking sideways after I only shifted my weight, and he stopped eating. Huh, how interesting!
From there we played with a figure 8 to help improve his transitions. It really helped me figure out our strengths and our weaknesses. Perfect timing to be able to address those weaknesses before our clinic this weekend!
Now I am itching to go ride and play with all the things we covered today!
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