Ranae had some stuff to do on Saturday, but thought she would be home in the afternoon to ride. I decided to give Jess a little groundwork session, since it had worked out so well last weekend. We got through the exercises on series II and then did some liberty. It's really a lot of fun and I hope it's helping me hook up with her a little more. There are still periods of chaos and times where she just flips me off and takes to running, but it is getting better. A lot of it is developing consistent cues. One of the easiest things to overlook as a trainer is that I may not be giving her the cues exactly the same way every time. So this practice is more for me than for her and she'll just have to put up with it.
The weather was almost balmy and clear in the morning. We worked for about two hours and then I gave her a bath and tied her up for awhile. I got my Saturday chores done and the clouds started to come in. The prediction was for rain on Sunday. I had a late lunch and Ranae came home around three and she did a bit of groundwork before we tacked up.
We ride along a canal that serves the farmland. While there are gates, most of the time they are unlocked. Saturday they weren't. We hit a dead end and had to turn around and then hit another dead end. This meant we had to ride through our residential area to get to our usual riding area. By the time we got out it was getting late and cool and we did a bit of obligatory trotting and loping then headed for home.
The rain came overnight and Sunday was pretty dreary. It sprinkled on and off most of the day. I was able to get the pens cleaned and had to rearrange our hay stack for the coming week. Late afternoon I decided to give groundwork a try and was able to work for about an hour. We did the exercises on series II again and worked on refining the side-pass and yielding the forequarters (both of which we tend to have trouble with). And, we got a little of liberty work in as well. It was a much calmer session than Saturday's and she seemed to realize there was less work near me than away from me.
This morning before work we did about half the exercise again focusing on side-passing without stepping forward and yielding forequarters without moving her hind end. Then I took off the halter and lead and we did some LFR II off-lead and some circle driving stage II off lead. Both of those were pretty good so we did sending off lead, and then I sent her over the barrels. After some desensitizing I tied her up for about 40 minutes then fed her and headed to work.
The weather has cleared and back in the 70's. They are predicting it may get back into the high 80's by mid-week. Unfortunately, Veterens' Day isn't a retail holiday...
2 comments:
70's??? 80's??? We will be lucky if we hit the 40's this week. They predicted freezing rain last night. I'm glad you are getting a chance to work Jessie and I can't wait to see some new liberty video. *hint*
Yes, California can be quite stunning in the fall. They are already gathering for the Veteran's Day Parade and it's clear skies and 70 degrees at 10 am. I don't know how you guys do it. Freezing rain?!? I don't even like ice in my drinks.
BTW, don't know if your a college football fan but that was a great win for Iowa over Penn State last weekend!
I'm hoping to shoot a video soon. I'm trying to figure a way to it in one continuous shot so the flaws show as much as the accomplishments. It's harder to do with our equipment and work area, but we'll give it a try. Plus, Jessie knows when the camera is on ;>) Still have to choreograph it (I need to feed my artistic side)
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