I worked three horses, which I think is decent for getting there at 11:30 and feeding at 3:30. I got there and chatted with Robert while we watched Buzz, Rose, and Duke plow (pick which one's the human). He asked me how much it'd be worth to me to see him in a hot pink shirt. I was highly suspicious. I told him that I wore the Super Princess hat to a party and everyone loved it. Also that I'd met a boy and in conversation it came up that he owned a Cushman, and the next ten minutes of that conversation consisted of Cushmen. He got a kick out of that.
Swept the aisle, grabbed Keno and hopped on bareback. I've been riding him/other horses with a saddle lately, and only Niki bareback. So when I got on the mounting block I went "holy crap this horse is huge." He's 14.3. My hunter/jumper, TB roots screamed, shriveled up, and withered away at that thought. Anyways, he was good, our canter transitions are getting better (we differentiate between ours, where I ask for the canter, and his, where he just goes for it). I remember I used to have to ask pretty hard, or just kick him into it. It's now very precise and uphill. You can really feel him pushing off his hind end. We worked on trotting nicely without spontaneous cantering.
We turned Luca out in the arena and chased him around a bit. Either he's less energetic since we've been working with him regularly, or he's learned that getting turned out isn't the end to his day, but he's not going nearly as crazy as he used to. Absolutely no headlong dashes to the gate. He was, in fact, pretty boring. We turned him out with intent to ride afterwards, but me being me, I'd grabbed my helmet and bridle and just hopped on. He was fine for mounting, stood all by himself. And he did absolutely nothing stupid! I was amazed.
Shana happened to be there, since she'd just had her lesson, so she watched Luca run around like an idiot and then watched me walk, trot, and canter Luca bareback. Robert claims she was impressed. We did some really nice canters to the right, very smooth and powerful. To the left, again, not so good. Did some bending and some leg yielding (hi, my leg is not just to make you look short) and got an ugly canter out of it. This, happily, made Robert realize that Luca is not currently show ready under saddle. We ended by trying out Training Test 1, which wasn't terrible. I cheated and picked up the canter at the corner by the gate, NOT going towards the gate (sometimes Luca likes to charge for it). The 20m trot circles were okay, the long walk was decent once he remembered about it, the 20m circle canters weren't terrible. He broke gait a few times, but I think he was tired and he's not used to doing that small a circle at that fast a gait. Every time he'd break I'd say "Luca, and canter!" and he'd pop right up into it again, so he's a game little horse.
I'm also not entirely sure how I feel when riding Keno and he does a nice transition, after working with him for the better part of a year at this point. I'm really happy with him. Then I get on Luca, the fairly green horse, and he does it effortlessly. It's a good comparison, for what conformation can do and what training can fix.
Also, I've gotta say. Luca bareback is comfyyyyyy. And very, very wide compared to Niki, who was my last victim.
Robert just watched today. She lined up next to the block and then started walking away when I was on it, so I brought her back and everything was fine. Calm when I got on, no stiffening, walked off calmly. I should get a saddle so it's easier for me to stay all the way off her face, as she started shaking her head at the trot, but not doing too badly. We understand leg means faster now, and she's only sensitive to it when she wants to be. She got a little "stuck" at the gate and I kicked her. She thought about it for a second and then walked on calmly. Niki was also pretty upset that Jade, her buddy, was outside but unreachable. Then Star started calling for Jade, but Niki was hoping desperately that it was for her instead and started screaming. I let it go twice but checked it with a half halt the third time. She was surprised but accepting. I rode her out of the arena almost to the barn, then stopped her, hopped off, and put her back.
By the way- Star got angry at me and Niki this morning. I was putting bedding in stalls and put some in Jade's, so Niki was sticking her head in to say hi. I started scratching her cheek and Star ran over and started kicking at Niki. I went in her run later to try and fix fence and she wouldn't let me come near her. It was pretty great. Mares.
I don't have it bookmarked anymore, but I had a site/blog with videos cataloging a pro training an 8 year old horse from basically greenbroke to Grand Prix. Each video had a little blurb next to it about what he was doing and how that would further educate the horse. He started off with sending the horse forward, then collecting him back. Legs/seat, rein. Legs/seat, rein. The horse understands that first you need energy, then you need to hold it in. Gradually you can shorten the period of time between the legs/seat and the rein, until you're doing it simultaneously. This is a half halt! At least, that's where I think it was from, but with my luck it might be mugwump or something.
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Luca may be green-ish to riding, but he's had over 10,000 dollars worth of training on him, plus all the work that Ken did. The fact that he's trained (and, ok, conformed too) to work off his hind end means everything you ask for is that much easier. Thus, making the wrong thing hard and the right thing easy, is even more effective because the right thing looses some of its inherent difficulty.
You should be proud that Keno compares so well to Luca at this point.
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