Prophecy in the “Think Tank” after our second off line ride

Prophecy and I graduated to working off the lunge line the ride after the last post!  We are still only working a walk, but now I am in “full control” to keep him moving and provide all directions.  He has come a long way with his “intolerance” issues to leg pressure and movement in the saddle, yet still can be difficult to saddle (more work to come there); we think he just might always be snarky about the girthing process; some days he is still more grumpy about the use of your leg and we just adjust our asks to help him out.

Wet work with Erin

Our 2nd ride off line was pretty cool.  He and are I learning/re-learning together too, and it is great for me to learn to use the tools Erin is teaching him, and of course for him to understand my requests, and let me feel what it is like to get the “change” in him.

We tried to beat the rain last weekend, but alas that did not happen!  It wasn’t pouring so Erin & I pressed on… Prophecy was less than amused about working in the rain, but it is what it is! It took him a little longer to settle down and relax with Erin than it has before, and then it was my turn to ride.

Working on our turns

We mainly spend our time in my lesson portion of the training helping him lift his shoulder (falls in on right), teaching him new things to help him relax and loosen in the rib cage, and energy match – having him walk as slow as I can and increase to the faster big walk where he has broken into a trot a few times of his own accord.  We do lots of turns, counter bends, figure-eights, s-turns and the use of exaggerated movements/weight shifts to work on neck-reining.

He has cantered a little with Erin and still seems happy with the Synergist and Christ pad combo overall. Still determining if he has a preference on the girth between the Synthetic TSF or Mohair.

It is so cool to see him enter the think tank after I’m done riding. He sure seems to have a lot stuff to think about, as do I to keep improving ride to ride.