Bridleless Part Deux!!!

Last night, due to Mo's poor nose, I was feeling guilty about putting things with nosebands over her nose, so I used only the halter around her neck again. The coolest thing was that last night when I got there, Mo was waiting for me at the back gate all excited!!

I let her into the barn at liberty, and she moseyed down into one of the stalls to explore. When she was in, I closed the door so I could let Indy and Ivy in, who were also waiting at the gate! They both went happily into their stall for dinner. Then I got Mo's halter and we set out on our adventure. I brought the trailer over again, so we went to play with that some more. Mo was more than willing to stand on the ramp, bu going inside was a little iffy so we played lots of approach and retreat and squeeze over the ramp until she asked me if she could go in!

I got to play with putting the butt bar up and down, since Mo has never had one before, and she was awesome. She tried to push on it a few times, but moved right off when I asked her to, without freaking out, which was really nice. She didnt even try to rush out when I opened it! She waited for the request from me, and backed out by the tail super lightly!

We played with backing in and out some more to, which was really go. I left hte divider in, so it was a good test of how specific our communication is. Turns out we needed some work, but we got it and I felt like we made good progress - Mo was licking the whole time and I only went to phase three once when she made a dive for grass pushing on me.

After getting all the way into the trailer backwards and getting a nice grass break, I lined up Mo along the ramp and practiced bareback mounting! I managed to get up three or four times before moving on because Mo was getting bored. So I just need to find a ditch to put Mo in, and I should be able to mount with that since the end of the ramp where I was standing was MAYBE three inches high?

We went over to the tack room then, to douse ourselves in fly spray since the little black flies are murderous, and grab the saddle and pad. I also put Mo's bridle on her, just for her to carry around. Its easier to use that if I need to than slip something over her nose. Her poor nose! I put aloe cream on it though, and that seemed to help some.

In the ring we played with softness on the circle with our new little set up - apparently pushing into the halter on the neck is fun, so I kept trying different things to keep Mo's draw into me instead of away. I got one and a half really light circles and was really proud of that. I changed the game then to a squeeze over the big jump. She kept wanting to keep going off but eventually clued into the SQUEEZE TURN FACE WAIT part, which was nice. She is starting to take the jumps better - smaller, more in relation to the actual size of the jump *gigglesnort* Although her first atempt over the big one today was... obnoxious.

Around we went, in a moving circling and falling leaf style game, around some barrels and over the three jumps set up. It was lots of fun. I found out that in sideways, putting the stick out to block zone one drifting forwards is more effective that trying to block it by wiggling the rope! I got really straight sideways without a fence for about twenty feet [on a 12' line, me traveling with her at the end] using this technique - what a treat! Mo is good at sideways, but usually has forwards drifting problems no matter how many times I try to remind her 'dont go forwards'.

I think about then we went over to the fence rail for the saddle and saddled up. Mo was thinking hard about that again, which was interesting. I grabbed the reins for the bridle to, just in case, and wound them around her neck. A few more jumps and sidewayses [?] for girth tightening and I mounted up. I have been mounting from the ground lately for practice because I usually use a fence or barrel or something sneaky like that. By sneaky, I obviously mean lazy... Mo isnt the biggest horse ever, I just am not the most coordinated, so I am now dedicating myself to finding my coordination via ground mounting, both with and without a saddle :-)

As we walked around the rail I played with transitions, walk stop back. Our back is a little sticky on body language, so I have been meaning to play more with that. I only need to go to phase one on the neck rope, but since that is already phase three in the big picture, I would rather get it off just my body like everything else! I also played with isolating front end vs hind end without dictating with the reins [had none, so it was easy! ok, not easy, but easy to not use the reins..]
Mo was confused at first, and kept offering different things, and when she finally isolated the one thing I asked for and offered it, she licked and chewed BIG TIME. It was really interesting to see the gamut of things she ran through to offer. AWwww! She tried so hard!

We picked up the trot and did more transitions and circles and then aimed for the jumps! The first few times she ducked out of the little cavelleti one were interesting. I then changed to using my carrot stick to reinforce my focus, and changed my focus to be on, and just a little passed the jump. When I used to learn jumping they always told us to focus on the horizon way beyond the jump, but that seems to encourage Mo to just get there as easily as possible, vs taking the obstacle in the straight line path. How interesting!

This little focus change affected everything though and we sailed over easily! I still cant get over the neat feeling of jumping bridleless. It is really good for both of us, because I can concentrate on me, and Mo can concentrate on Mo. Both of us need fluidity help with jumping. We continued on our way, weaving around the ring doing different things, picking up the canter on occasion, but mostly sticking to the trot because we arent cantering jumps yet.

Around we went, taking all the jumps over and over EVEN THE BIG ONE!!! It was amazing. We knocked the big one once, and I had to dismount to fix it, but Mo stuck to me like glue while I fixed it, and I got more mounting practice. I played with jumping squeeze game under saddle, jumping it then stopping turning and jumping it again. That was neat. It was a really neat experience that after I changed my focus all I had to do was point Mo at the jump and she would jump it, instead of trying to find a way out of it. Very cool.

After getting my fill of leaping and cavorting around the now-feeling-confining ring, I snapped on my reins and headed out to the trails. Mo is getting REALLY good at opening gates... er... tolerating me while I open the gate from her back. Same difference? Anyways, WE are getting good at gates. On a casual rein we took off cantering down the trail. The world looked a little spooky, so it turned into a trot for a while, but Mo picked the canter back up all on her own when her confidence was high enough! What a clever girl!

I was on a euphoria high and Mo was happy to be out of the ring so we cantered and galloped the whole length of the trail, up the hill and onto the galloping trail and back maybe six times... its quite the course and always fun. Good songs ringing in your ipod always help nicely to! There is not much in the world that is more fun than galloping down the trails, good tunes, and a happy horse on a loose rein. Swimming comes to mind... but I dont think anything can beat that. This is up there though!

We finally cooled out, walking the trail circuit twice to relax, well not relax, but let the body relax, if the mind already was. When Mo was ready we walked back to the trailer, put two feet on the ramp while I was still riding, and then went to the tack room and untacked. I took off the bridle from her back just for fun... that was neat. When she was unencumbered by tack I let her graze in the back yard while I put Indy and Ivy back outside. Mo was happy to come with me when I came back and I gave her a goot treat before leaving her standing at the gate watching me, trying her puppy dog eyes out for more snacks!

I had SO much fun, and I really hope Mo did to!! Jumping is something I love, and I want Mo to enjoy it as much as I do.

:-)
S