Ride On Kallie & Blue

While I waited for Ripley and Storm to finish eating and was busy keeping Blue from trying to duck into their feeding stall I decided to try something new with him. So in less than 5 minutes I taught Blue to back up by following the feel with his tail at complete liberty and to back up when I lifted one of his back legs and guided it backwards. He caught on really quickly and there was really no hesitation! I was pretty happy that it took less than 5 minutes to teach my boy some Level ¾ skills!

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Later on that afternoon I decided I wanted to play with Kallie again, we went through our Seven Games and she was much more responsive with backing up today, she wasn’t sticky at all. I even worked on drawing her into me faster by walking/trotting backwards away from her while I reeled in the rope and she quickly caught on and had no issues with trotting towards me. I was also able to play the Friendly Game with carrot stick and savvy string in all 5 Zones. I was very happy that she allowed me to stand in Zone 5 and toss the savvy string around her fore quarters, neck, back, and legs.

After I was certain she passed the pre-ride checks I got on, this time I asked for a bit more from her and would smile with all four cheeks, turn the smile into a squeeze and then smooch if I didn’t get a response. Within no time at all she was moving forward eagerly and easily with just the smile. Yawning, licking and chewing and being a really good girl. We worked on turning, lateral flexion and even did a few Figure 8s around the barrels! She was just perfect! After we road around the paddock a bit, going to new places we hadn’t ridden before I decided to end the wonderful session.

Next it was Blue’s turn again, I got him to give me a boost up with his neck onto his back and I really had no intentions of doing much more then just sitting there but I could tell that he was eager to do something. So I looked at his right hip and poked it gently with my finger and he did a near perfect turn on the forehand. We did this to the left and to the right, he would back up easily and many steps when I just shifted my weight back in the saddle as well as walk forward and whoa with the slightest suggestion. Next I’m going to have to work on some turns on the haunches, but he certainly has his turns on the forehand down pat and can do them very quickly!