Making progress!

Just got done working with Dublin. He is making such good progress in spite of the limited time we've spent together that we are now starting to work on some more refinement. That includes riding with one hand on the rein and using the stick to reinforce leg and weight cues, using the 9-step backup every time we stop, stepping up our Sideways game, and throwing some more challenges into moves like fore- and hindquarters yields.

I was able to sidestep him over a barrel from the ground, a move that stymied him completely last weekend. This time he did it like an old pro. His forequarter yields from a distance need a lot of work--he doesn't like to move his forequarters without also moving his hindquarters in opposition. Hindquarter yields are much easier for him. Planting his front end is not a problem! The hind end does not like to stay in one place as much.

Then I mounted him from the fence, a move that I had worried about for a long time but it has been a non-event. And so useful for when I start riding him with the bareback pad! He is sticking to the rail nicely now, and I'm able to move him back on track when he strays with just leg and weight pressure. He has a big trot, so one new task is to be able to control his speed. He did surprisingly well with that--his trot has been pretty much one speed--big and bouncy--but when I asked him to slow it down, he did so beautifully and we really got a lovely, easy-to-ride slow trot.

For going sideways, I've been using a lot of rein since I find it easier than using leg, and my new challenge is to set up the reins as a frame for sideways and then use the stick if leg pressure doesn't work. Dublin is not particularly fond of the stick. Being off the track, he is probably not used to the stick being his friend, and he tends to get defensive when it's used. So we had a bit of ears back and hollow back, but he is much less argumentative than he used to be and is finding that things go much better when he just tries to figure out what I'm asking when I use the stick. The stick is used with the intensity getting increased each time I use it, so if he responds to the first light tap, he is finding he can avoid a more stern cue. So finally, we got a nice sideways. Our sideways has mostly consisted of moving the front end, then moving the hind end, but today we actually moved both ends sideways in unison.

With that new slow trot, we were able to get a nice figure 8 around the barrels--at a fast trot on this long-legged boy, if you don't get your 8 set up correctly, you are across the arena immediately after it goes wrong. At a slow trot, it's a lot easier to get things set up for success and control the pattern.

All in all, a very successful day today!