On Fri, Nov 30, 2007 at 04:33:32AM -0000, blessiowner wrote: > I had to laugh at your comment. For the past month, Blessi has been > doing the exact same thing. It is like he is telling me "Enough with > the basics, let's do the more advanced stuff." My instructor has > complimented me several times on how floaty and effortless that some > of the lateral work has been recently. I have had to confess that > Blessi has anticipated some of the commands and just done the side > pass or turn on the forehand. I am not sure if he is responding to > her verbal commands or recognition of the set up/location for the > more advanced moves.
*grin* recognizing the setup is half of training, of course. no reason your horse should wait for nine possible aids strung together when he can tell from the first what you're going to ask for :) > I also had the sense that he thinks I am not fun anymore. i've been trying to be more playful with stjarni, but he is not a big fan of the parelli games (we used to have two boarders who did them; one's horse really seemed to like it, one didn't, and stjarni just seems to find them a bit dull). he does like wandering around on back roads, jumping, stuff involving *equipment* like cones and poles and flags, and a good gallop. i guess i'm trying to let him show me what *he* finds fun, and recognize and participate in that, rather than trying to teach him new games. (we had the same experience with the bouncy-ball toy that all my barn owner's horses love as with parelli -- stjarni will do the thing once or twice, and then looks at me with that plaintive "can we do something fun now?" face :) good luck finding stuff you BOTH find fun! --vicka
