Today was determining where I can place my phone (camera) in the arena and see everything Fancy and I do. Thank you, Susan B., for helping.
I found the exact place where the arena should end if I want to get Fancy’s body in the video at all times.
Hmmm. This makes the arena short (as in not long enough). We practice flat foot walking, fox trotting, cantering, leg yielding at a (flat foot) walk and foxtrot in both directions, and weaving thru three cones that I made diagonal in my short arena. We practice side passing with the head turned in the direction of travel. Fancy disapproved. Perhaps I will flex her head slightly before we start the side pass so her head will be in the correct position when I ask her to move sideways.
We practice side passing over cones. We rested; I rubbed her. We practiced the required nine-step backup, which means changing my body position since she backs with my leg cues and body position. I am holding the reins with a touch of contact since this is Finesse. Maybe I can drop the reins, pick them up to perform the first seven steps of the nine-step backup, and then change my body position and give the cue for stop and back. Hmm.
The next big deal is flying changes. Hmmm, there isn’t room enough in my short arena for me to do flying changes. Erin can do straight line flying changes on Fancy in the short arena. Sigh.
My thought tonight while at home thinking about all this. We can do the flying lead changes while on camera and disappearing when we aren’t doing anything for the audition. There is also the much bigger outdoor arena to consider, dusty after a few days of no rain. I plan to do my Freestyle audition in the outdoor arena for sure.
I bet you have some clue now of how much planning is involved in this audition process!
We rested for a long time. I took her bridle off and rode with the string around her neck. I carried the horsemanship stick to help with her neck reining and keep her straight when she decided to turn or veer off my track. She paced at the flat foot walk. The pace is the hated gait that always awaits to torture us gaited horse lovers.
We did leg yields at a real walk and flat foot walk. We weaved. My arena companion, the other Susan, is riding a quarter horse, and she was posting and commented on how it is such good exercise. I said it doesn’t take any effort for me to post of Fancy when she is trotting. I trotted and posted. We decided that Fancy offers a lot more suspension at her fast trot than the quarter horse. No wonder posting is so easy for me. I love posting on Fancy.
I did the mental challenge and went for a flying change. Fancy disagreed and broke into a foxtrot for half of the actual arena. I was grateful. Riding bridleless is a relatively new thing for Fancy and me. My mental health has to ramp up and stop pulling back on the string until I want to slow down or stop. Mental health is an excellent thing to own when riding bridleless!
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