Mon 22nd Feb 2010
S and I went the usual Shepherds grove way but came back the same way as running short on time. Duncs full of beans, it had been pouring and there were rivers running along the roads which he found interesting looking at out of his left eye on the way out and scary looking at out of his right on the way home!
Have noticed increasingly now I am riding alone that D is not too happy with trafic when you are on board. He's better when you're on the ground, although will have a bit of a look and maybe a spook. On board, if there's a gap between him and M he gets all bunched up and starts prancing on the spot. That's when I jump off! It's not cars but anything bigger than a van. We met a lorry going along Scarletts Lake road and D wouldn't go forward even tho the van was stationary. He bunched up then started jigging sideways into some deep mud so I leapt off. He then went past ok, if a little rushed.
I did a bit of jumping on & off tho I can't remember every reason now. Once was when he was spooking at the river going back and I was getting left behind. I know this is a typical point when a horse will rush forward and put a buck in (as D did the previous week). At the moment, I'm erring on the side of caution as I'm not yet able to just "kick him on" (sorry Parelli, this is traditional riding slang!).
This is another thing to teach D - an emergency upwards transition! Of course, he has to be responsive to the slightest phase for this to work and, at the moment, he doesn't often respond to ph 1 and still braces against the leg at ph 2. It will all come I'm sure. We still haven't got much of a language going on top yet after all.
All in all D was very good, excellent with me getting on and off. All this leaping on and off has paid huge dividends as I write (see next entry!) as at one point, a MOVING dismount sent D into a nervous spin. I walked on the way back as I really don't like riding on the main road, we were getting left behind a lot and, until I'm more confident I can deal with D's traffic nerves, it's the safest option.
His feet were fine today, had time to recover since last week but he really slows up by the end of a road ride so I will use boots for the road when necessary. really clocking up the mileage now which is GREAT!
No comments:
Post a Comment