A good week for Jasper as we knocked out his first round pen rides here!
On Monday, he had his first round pen ride (without a helper since my husband was on the road), which went well. He was a bit sticky & needed encouragement to pick up the lope, which I expected. This is a big part of my focus with Jasper. The round pen is an ideal place to do this as we've already established his responsiveness on the ground, which will transfer to our ridden work, plus, I can stay out of his way without needing to steer while he finds his balance at each gait. We worked on Flexing, Yielding the HQ, W/T/L in both directions, & ended our rides with some inside & outside turns and figure eights towards the end of the week.
With the cooler, wetter weather that rolled in, we stayed in the round pen for the week as we continued to build on his confidence. His responsiveness under saddle continued to grow throughout the week, which will set him up to move to the arena next week.
Today, we received our first bit of snow for the season as well.
Next week, we'll start out in the round pen on Monday before moving to the arena for his first ride there if things aren't too sloppy. There, we'll work on One Rein Stops, Cruising, and potentially Follow the Fence, depending on how he does.
- Lexy Nuesch
Next week's update will be posted on Friday.
I do my best to get these updates posted in a timely manner, but it's not uncommon for me to be outside until after dark, depending on the weather, my schedule, & who gets worked when, so updates will sometimes be posted quite late in the evening. Don't be alarmed if you don't see your update right away. In rare cases, I may have to push them until the next morning, but I'll reach out & let you know if so.
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