Heat Wave
It's well into the 100s up and down the east coast. And unfortunately for Mike, me and the cats, the air conditioning at our house broke - a fact our landlord doesn't seem bothered about. Definitely sucks for us. But then Leo doesn't have air conditioning either at the barn and he's fine. We're just too pampered.
I put the lunge equipment to the side and decided to spend the week riding Leo. Some days have been better than others. About 2 days ago, some new fly traps went up in the field around the ring. They are large black boxes which simply sit there, but they are different and have never been in the field before so Leo has taken great offense to them. We had one crappy ride in the ring when we were unlucky enough to be working when they decided to set up the traps in the field. Then today, Leo could barely move he was focusing so hard on staring across the field to one of the black boxes. I tried to walk him over to it which resulted in him spinning, jumping, and bolting. I had no choice but to get off and walk him over to it. It took us a while before Leo would calmly walk in circles around it. But then once he realized it didn't do anything, he got bored and we could go back and work in the ring without issue.
Actually, when I got back on we had a really nice and short school on the flat and his connection was quite steady. I got to the barn at 8am this morning so I could jump him and beat the heat of the day. I warmed up the way Sally always had me warm up - jumping several fences in succession. Leo was pretty excited when he realized we were jumping and started to get balled up and behind my leg. So I corrected that before we went on to working on a gymnastic I had set up.
Trotting in, it was a bounce, 2 short strides to a vertical, one short stride to another vertical.
Leo was pretty smart through the exercise but I noticed he drifts more when he gets tired. One of the things Rebecca said was that it was important for him to realize he doesn't need speed to get over the fence. Short strides gymnastics help communicate this to him without me being in his face all the time. We then circled around from the gymnastic and jumped a corner that someone had setup using some barrels. Over all, it was the first ride I've been happy about in a couple weeks!
I put the lunge equipment to the side and decided to spend the week riding Leo. Some days have been better than others. About 2 days ago, some new fly traps went up in the field around the ring. They are large black boxes which simply sit there, but they are different and have never been in the field before so Leo has taken great offense to them. We had one crappy ride in the ring when we were unlucky enough to be working when they decided to set up the traps in the field. Then today, Leo could barely move he was focusing so hard on staring across the field to one of the black boxes. I tried to walk him over to it which resulted in him spinning, jumping, and bolting. I had no choice but to get off and walk him over to it. It took us a while before Leo would calmly walk in circles around it. But then once he realized it didn't do anything, he got bored and we could go back and work in the ring without issue.
Actually, when I got back on we had a really nice and short school on the flat and his connection was quite steady. I got to the barn at 8am this morning so I could jump him and beat the heat of the day. I warmed up the way Sally always had me warm up - jumping several fences in succession. Leo was pretty excited when he realized we were jumping and started to get balled up and behind my leg. So I corrected that before we went on to working on a gymnastic I had set up.
Trotting in, it was a bounce, 2 short strides to a vertical, one short stride to another vertical.
Leo was pretty smart through the exercise but I noticed he drifts more when he gets tired. One of the things Rebecca said was that it was important for him to realize he doesn't need speed to get over the fence. Short strides gymnastics help communicate this to him without me being in his face all the time. We then circled around from the gymnastic and jumped a corner that someone had setup using some barrels. Over all, it was the first ride I've been happy about in a couple weeks!
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