The day was sunny and bright. It was warmer outside in the sun than in the
indoor arena, so we were outside all day long.
But it was cold in the morning, so we started out in the heated lounge.
We had a knot tying class…we learned 4 knots.
We got our circulation started with balancing games. Jenny had purchased a
round board with a bump in the middle. The object is to stand on it without
the edges of the board touching the floor. Then we had to stand on a
skateboard looking board with a rollar underneath it. For this task, we got
to have a partner stand in front of us and give us their arms to hang on to.
Then we played human games where one of us was a horse and the other was the human. Jenny led the “humans” out of hearing range and gave them their
“tasks”. My human felt sorry for me and told me what to do. ha ha I figure
she was a little upset when I became the human and didn’t tell her what to
do. My challenge was to play the falling rock game and the reverse at a trot
game.
Next, we progressed to online with the 22′ rope. We had to stand on the rope
with two feet until the horse’s head was as far down as the horse felt
comfortable. I did get Velvet’s head down to where I stepped on the lead
snap. When the horse’s head was down, we were to play the friendly game with the carrot stick and string…plus hit the ground with the string.
While everyone else trotted and then walked on the 22′ line, my challenge was for Velvet not to break gait at a canter for 5 circles.
Our next challenge was reversing at a trot, but Velvet and I got to reverse
at a canter, hence doing flying lead changes. Wonderfully, Velvet is
improving her flying lead changes at her “problem” direction. She doesn’t
get the lead change in back, but she now can change leads in back at the
canter. This has taken a YEAR!
Our next challenge was to ride with the Cherokee Bridle. I think Velvet was
the only horse that has ever experienced this before. But, it didn’t take
long before we were all trotting around with the string being carried in the
mouth by all the horses…it took 10 minutes! Velvet and I haven’t done this
for almost a year, so it was cool to see her calm down and hold the string in
her mouth in a short amount of time.
After lunch we rode with bridles. We had have our halters on our horse.
Then we were required to bridle our horse from our knees and then take off
the halter…still on our knees. Thank goodness I know how to do this now.
That ground was hard and I didn’t want to stay down there very long. I
remember when taking the halter off when underneath the bridle was a complete total mystery. I think it took me 3 years to figure it out. I think Velvet figured it out long before I did, and just took over.
We started out doing rollbacks at a walk and trot.
Then we played follow the leader. The challenge is to stay no farther or
closer than a horse length. Those that break the horse length commandment
generally get to run flying leads (without the horse!) after the lesson is
over. Luckily, Jenny forgot to “punish” the ones who broke the horse length
commandment.
Then we did real flying lead changes one at a time. Velvet and I didn’t get
a single one. I now realize that I have to be really “UP” for this and ride
very aggresively. Velvet and I were just too laid back by the late
afternoon. Then two people at a time did flying lead changes. We had logs
laid out and did the lead changes in a figure eight pattern.
After we were done with this, we all dismounted, unsaddled and put on our
bareback pads. Jenny demonstrated how to help someone mount. She
demonstrated this several times. Then the auditors got to help the rest of
the class mount. The auditors got quite a workout. They had to move
barrels, logs and help with mounting.
We walked and then trotted. There were two riders who had never rode
bareback before. They were quite nervous about it, but gradually became
relaxed enough to ride at a trot. My challenge was not to use my reins. One
of the auditors asked me why I couldn’t use my reins and I explained that it
was a level 3 task to ride bareback and bridleless. So he said, why don’t
you just take off the bridle then. I surprised him and did…but I put the
savvy string around Velvet’s neck. I’m almost ready to ride with no backup
(string or carrot stick)…I’m right on the edge. However, I’m no where near
balanced enough to ride and change directions without the bareback pad.
HAY! We did a lot! There were only 5 people who rode in the morning session and we gained one for the afternoon session.
We all had a wonderful day!