Today Kai and I started off with some stick to me. I asked him to be responsive to my energy. Then we worked on connecting during the circling game. Kai is connecting quicker and quicker every time we do this exercise. Next I groomed him and tacked him up. I then asked him to trot on the circle. He felt connected and listening so I mounted up. After doing lateral flexion I asked him to do FQ and HQ yields. We quit when he pivoted nicely. I also did the nine-step-backup. I tested if Kai would back up with just my seat and he did two steps. Then we walked on the rail while I asked him to stop. Kai was ignoring my light phases so I bumped him on the nose. After this repeated two more times I decided that the next time I would get after him much harder as not to nag him. Of course the next time I asked Kai to stop he stopped dead when I exhaled.
I asked him to trot on a circle. What was interesting is that Kai kept breaking gait. At first I just asked him to trot again thinking it was my riding. However after he did it one more time I realized that he just did not want to put effort in. I tied his extra halter to the bareback pad handle to use as a ''motivator'' as it is called. I didn't want to get after him with my legs so I thought that the halter was a better option. The next time he broke gait I tagged him ever so lightly on the bum with the halter. Kai was surprised but he started to trot again. The next time he broke gait I tagged him a little harder. Kai sassed little and did a tiny little jump. Soon he understood and maintained gait and was bending pretty nicely to the inside without dropping his shoulder. When the foals entered the arena he remembered an earlier session when I bumped his neck with the carrot because he was drifting towards them and respectfully turned when I asked him out without drifting. I then gave him a rest.
After he was done eating his grain I jumped on him again just to sit on him. He let me fool around a little while I sat sideways on him giggling. I even sat backwards on him. What a good boy!
Later I took him to the outdoor arena and worked on our audition tasks.
He had a very rushed sideways game. Pretty much the same as before. I asked him to wait and then go sideways. Kai tried to predict which way I wanted him to go and was not paying attention to my core. He tried to run away but didn't jump as much as last session. After working through our miscommunication we filmed a few dry runs.
I asked him to trot on a circle. What was interesting is that Kai kept breaking gait. At first I just asked him to trot again thinking it was my riding. However after he did it one more time I realized that he just did not want to put effort in. I tied his extra halter to the bareback pad handle to use as a ''motivator'' as it is called. I didn't want to get after him with my legs so I thought that the halter was a better option. The next time he broke gait I tagged him ever so lightly on the bum with the halter. Kai was surprised but he started to trot again. The next time he broke gait I tagged him a little harder. Kai sassed little and did a tiny little jump. Soon he understood and maintained gait and was bending pretty nicely to the inside without dropping his shoulder. When the foals entered the arena he remembered an earlier session when I bumped his neck with the carrot because he was drifting towards them and respectfully turned when I asked him out without drifting. I then gave him a rest.
After he was done eating his grain I jumped on him again just to sit on him. He let me fool around a little while I sat sideways on him giggling. I even sat backwards on him. What a good boy!
Later I took him to the outdoor arena and worked on our audition tasks.
He had a very rushed sideways game. Pretty much the same as before. I asked him to wait and then go sideways. Kai tried to predict which way I wanted him to go and was not paying attention to my core. He tried to run away but didn't jump as much as last session. After working through our miscommunication we filmed a few dry runs.
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