Today Kai came to greet me by the gate when he saw me coming with the halter.
We started to play with backing up by the tail. I practiced making turns because Kai wants to keep turning to face me. I kept asking him until he was doing nice turns and was soft. Then I set up a pole by the rail so that he could trot over it on the circle. At first I just asked him to walk and trot over it and then I asked him to stop right before it. Kai asked a question and leaned forward, so I decided to encourage his idea of going forward and asked him to put both front feet over the pole. Kai licked and chewed and asked another question. I asked him to back up and then walk over it for another circle. I asked Kai to step over it all the way and then I asked him to back over it. Kai was asking lots of questions and was thinking hard about doing what I was asking him.
Then we moved on to putting only one foot over the pole. Soon he was putting one front foot over the pole without needing to put the other one over. We also did this with his back feet. I asked Kai to go on a circle at the trot and he asked a question every time he was approaching the pole. I brought him in and gave him a cookie before asking him to straddle the pole length wise. I carefully talked to each of his feet until he could straddle the pole. Kai got the front feet down but still put his back feet all the way over on either side before relaxing in that position.
We repeated this a few times and Kai could understand really quickly what I wanted him to do.
Then we worked on perfecting sideways from zone one over the pole. My goal was to get him to go sideways with me without the stick. We played around with the phases until I did not need the stick anymore. He was leaving his bum behind a little so we worked on helping his HQ catch up to his front. Kai was doing both directions very lightly. However he found it more difficult to stop when we went sideways right on the edge of the pole, he went all the way off. We ended the session when he went both left and right and then left again without pausing to much and mirroring my speed all without me using the stick.
We started to play with backing up by the tail. I practiced making turns because Kai wants to keep turning to face me. I kept asking him until he was doing nice turns and was soft. Then I set up a pole by the rail so that he could trot over it on the circle. At first I just asked him to walk and trot over it and then I asked him to stop right before it. Kai asked a question and leaned forward, so I decided to encourage his idea of going forward and asked him to put both front feet over the pole. Kai licked and chewed and asked another question. I asked him to back up and then walk over it for another circle. I asked Kai to step over it all the way and then I asked him to back over it. Kai was asking lots of questions and was thinking hard about doing what I was asking him.
Then we moved on to putting only one foot over the pole. Soon he was putting one front foot over the pole without needing to put the other one over. We also did this with his back feet. I asked Kai to go on a circle at the trot and he asked a question every time he was approaching the pole. I brought him in and gave him a cookie before asking him to straddle the pole length wise. I carefully talked to each of his feet until he could straddle the pole. Kai got the front feet down but still put his back feet all the way over on either side before relaxing in that position.
We repeated this a few times and Kai could understand really quickly what I wanted him to do.
Then we worked on perfecting sideways from zone one over the pole. My goal was to get him to go sideways with me without the stick. We played around with the phases until I did not need the stick anymore. He was leaving his bum behind a little so we worked on helping his HQ catch up to his front. Kai was doing both directions very lightly. However he found it more difficult to stop when we went sideways right on the edge of the pole, he went all the way off. We ended the session when he went both left and right and then left again without pausing to much and mirroring my speed all without me using the stick.