Sunday, April 11, 2010

April 9, 2010



One Year Ago Today


Cindy met Gary at the stables after work. Gary was grooming and putting on LBR's saddle when she arived.

They headed down to the grass arena for a pre-ride lunge. LBR is lunging much better in his halter than his bridle. The ground is getting really hard in the grass arena as we haven't had any rain this week. LBR didn't want to canter while lunging becuase of the cement-like ground.

Gary finished up the lunging then took LBR back to the grooming stall and put on his bridle. LBR was a very mellow fellow tonight.

Cindy led LBR to the sand arena for a ride and worked on keeping him in the proper leading position with loose reins. She mounted LBR and he stood nicely - not attempting to leave the arena.

She started with a walk around the rail and then trotted for a while. LBR was very relaxed and carried the bit perfectly (the ride Gary did with the German martingale yesterday seemed to help).

Because LBR was so responsive and Cindy was feeling confident, she cantered him tonight. First they cantered counter-clockwise and LBR was SO HAPPY (so was Cindy).

They cantered the entire arena and did circles at the far end. They then came back to the walk, changed directions and worked for a short bit at the trot. Cindy queued him for the canter in the turn and LBR picked up the correct lead (right) in the clockwise direction too....WOO HOO!!!

Cindy kept the ride short (about 35 minutes) and ended with a nice walk on a loose rein.

LBR and Cindy are really starting to build confidence and respect for each other.

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