This week, we returned to the round pen with Rowdy to work on his responsiveness to my verbal cues, especially at the trot & lope. He has done well with that & has done better on the ground with this than Slate.
We also introduced Leading Beside. In this exercise, we're working on coming off of poll pressure & matching my pace/energy. If he doesn't respond to the lead rope or my pace/energy, I follow through with the stick at the hindquarters. This exercise reinforces the "move forward" response to pressure applied to the hindquarters instead of being desensitized to it & matching my energy which is something that I expect under saddle as well. Today ended well, with Rowdy willingly trotting beside me down the lane as soon as I began to jog next to him. (I had hoped to get a video of this today, but there were too many other horses in the background of our practice area & the Pivo couldn't track the correct one.)
We'll review these exercises on Monday & expect to saddle back up & ride on Tuesday.
Next week's update will be posted on Saturday.
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