Not knowing what to expect from my Equine Affaire responsibilities, I've started working out in the mornings. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I head to our tennis club and do some running and weights. My goal is to have at least 30 workouts before the expo. So, if I have to work out in the morning, so does Jessie. Friday and Mondays are her days.
Friday it was just some basic groundwork. Saturday it rained or threatened to rain, almost all day so we went to the movies. Sunday, Ranae had a lunch date with her Mom and it looked like rain, so we did some groundwork. We tried to do the Parelli thing where we both stand in the middle and have the horses going around us as we hand each other the lead ropes. They didn't get it and we had to work on it separately for a while. The second time we tried it, they did a pretty good job.
Jessie and I stayed out a little longer and did some liberty stuff and jumping barrels. She got pretty worked up at liberty, but calmed down and was working well by the time we quit. I gave her a bath and tied her up while I cleaned the pens.
The afternoon turned gorgeous and Ranae got home about two so we decided to ride. It was a beautiful afternoon and the horses were very well behaved having had a good groundwork session. We rode for a couple of hours and worked on using our legs to steer, and some speed control at the trot and lope.
This morning Jessie and I did some more liberty work. She was very much improved over the day before. I had her trotting around me in a circle and she even loped in both directions. We did some leading beside where she was much better with me on her right side than her left. I was able to lope a circle with me running right next to her going to the left (don't know the practical application of that, but it was fun).
So, as long as we have light and reasonably good weather in the morning, we hope to keep it up.
2 comments:
Please let me know what motivates you to do this. I need to get motivated but I have such a difficult time.
Repetitious acts are easier for me. I always use something to set up an internal competition. Sometimes it's as simple as wearing a watch with a timer and trying to do something a little longer or quicker than the last.
For exercise, for example, I start by walking Max (I do it for him ;>), then I jump some rope. I started doing 5 minutes and now I am up to ten. Then I do a few sprints. The whole time I wear a heart monitor and try to keep my heart rate in a zone of 120 - 140 beats per minute. Each workout I try to stay longer in the zone. It takes me 30 seconds to chart each workout's zone time and and focusing on the time instead of the workout is much easier.
Working Jessie is a bit easier. I just tell myself to go out there for ten minutes - just ten minutes. I tell myself just do one exercise and desensitize and that's it. And then I usually end up spending 30 - 40 minutes once I'm out there.
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