Rico had yesterday off since it was Thanksgiving and I wanted to look like I live in a house and not a barn. Except that I snuck up there and took some pictures with him and then came back down to the house covered in shavings and bits of hay...
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| Someone is difficult to take pictures with |
Today I woke up, ate pumpkin pie for breakfast (no shame) and then prepared the arena for the most perfect horse.
I knew that today was a really important day. Today was the first day I'd be trying to do the piaffe and passage on my own (since Alfredo said to practice a bit every day) and that if I couldn't get passage today, it would only get more difficult.
I stuffed my pockets full of sugar and grabbed both my bamboo stick and my piaffe whip (and regular whip as I always do). We walked down the road all the way, then went down the access road which I don't normally let him down every day since the footing isn't great. I wanted him to get enough walking in so that his muscles were warmed up.
Warmed up as usual and he was full of sass which I was happy about since it would work to my advantage! Then... we attempted the passage.
First, all I wanted was something that wasn't trot. Whenever he changed the rhythm, he got praise and a sugar cube. Then I wanted something that resembled passage, even for one step. Then I wanted the passage...
Once Rico was aware that sugar was on the line, he was BRILLIANT. The horse will do absolutely anything for food! I didn't get the kind of passage that Alfredo and I got of course, and I was probably doing everything wrong, but what I do know is that the tempo slowed down, the rhythm changed, and I almost got bounced out of the tack! Sounds pretty passage-y to me!
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| SUCH love for this passaging horse |
We also touched on the piaffe today. Because he already knows how to do it and has a button for it, I just want to make sure that it stays solid. Even between Tuesday and today, his piaffe is SO much better. He's much more on the spot, much more responsive to my aids, and much more active with his hind legs. After we did it twice, I quit!
I'm beyond stoked. Now that we have a button for both piaffe and passage (even if it's a little sticky), I know he'll have a pretty solid pi/pa by February when Alfredo comes back. Then it's just perfecting the new gaits and getting the damn horse to stop kicking at my legs in the changes so I can put the 1s and 2s on! Oh and the canter half pass zig zag needs some work... and the full pirouettes too... and I think the trot half pass could be better... and the walk pirouettes I guess...
We've still got a long way to go!
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| The best horse! |
