Oh that was fun! Did he hyperventilate? You bet. Were his "circles" anywhere between three and eighteen sides? Too right they were. Did he initially produce a trot whose stride length would have done justice to a 13.2 pony? Oh my, yes he did. Did he insist that down and round was totally impossible, stop, run backwards and turn sideways? For sure.
But, did he in the end produce a really nice trot forward into my hand with his head down and a much longer neck and stride. Yup. Did he leg yield to the track, once he understood? He did. Is he quick off the aids and willingly forward into trot and canter and easy to bring back to trot and walk? He is. And did he finish on a superb walk? True.
All in all, given that he has not been able to use his body properly for over three years that we know of, he did very well. It's going to take a while to get anything recognisable as "good" work, but it was a good start. And he was completely sound. He is particularly resistant to bending in the correct direction and I had to settle for a reverse bend for the trot circles. In canter he was severely quarters in, which is odd because he canters well on the lunge. That will need some work to get it right.
I really enjoyed myself. I'm not so sure about Woody :-)
We didn't go to the farm ride with Radar, I didn't feel like the journey. So I did a stiff hour's hack which incorporated a huge amount of hill work. He was tired by it at the end, so he had worked hard as it's not easy to make him look obviously tired.
Ace has not worked yet, and if I fall asleep in a minute he won't be working until tomorrow.
C
What fun! I have always found reschooling a horse with a good attitude to be very rewarding. Woody sounds like a trooper, ready to try for you if he accomplished all that in just one session. While it remains to be seen if the lesson will carry over to the next time, it certainly does sound promising.
ReplyDeleteIf you tired Radar out, you must have gone on quite a ride. No jumps, perhaps, but lots of hills--the key to fitness.
You deserve a nap.
I guess WPO must have done a bit of schooling with him Jean, and we are just trying to remind him of some stuff he already knows. He does panic so when he gets confused, but he is so gentle and sweet with it. I want to school again but he must have tomorrow off and then hack on Friday for his feet.
ReplyDeleteC