another hot day

The hot weather is back, so we rode at 7:00 am again today. Started with serpentines at the walk and trot, followed by clover leafs, offset figure eights, and change of rein on the diagonal. Very good lengthening and neck extension at the trot. Next challenge is to get the stretch sooner. Good clean canter departs on both reins. Neck extension at the trot more difficult after a few canters due to his excitement. But he is improving. Shoulder in, renvers, travers, and half pass at the walk. Shoulder in at the trot. Great w-t-w transitions on the rail.

Last night I hopped on for his first bridleless ride. I used only the neck strap for the first 10 minutes, then opened the gate from on his back and continued in the front pasture. After a few minutes I had trouble stopping him from grazing and had to revert to the halter. But a great start. Stopping, backing, turn right and turn left all there. Great bend to the inside off the neck rein, too!

clean canter

Another great session this morning. Clover leaf working wonders. 8m circles still sketchy, but I think my approach is wrong. walk-halt transitions really coming along. Many trot-halt-trot transitions as well. Down to 1-2 walk steps in the transition, and a couple perfect ones. Multiple t-c-t transitions on both reins. Very crips t-c transitions, and 100% on leads. Nice shoulder in, travers, and half-pass at the walk. Shoulder in at the trot developing.

Just keeps getting better

Did the clover leaf exercise at the walk and the trot, then 10m circles at the walk, trot, and canter on one and two reins. He really did well. Softer and softer. We had a single cavelleti in the center of the ring and did figure 8 jumps over it many times. Nice calm jumps. The double jump was set up with an "X" as the second jump and he took this real nicely. Just a wonderful session all around.

Loooooong session

Nice long session on Jordan today. His cruise lesson is doing better, but I'm still frustrated that he hasn't mastered it yet. It's not his fault and I should just chill. Riding with contact has gotten 200% better, though, so I know this lesson is working. w-t-w on the circle is very good. Multiple t-c-t transitions as well. Figuring out his leads--his canter stride is so short I have to look down to check. I did a couple of quick half passes at the walk towards the end that were really fun. He was a bit dull today overall but still managed to be a little fidgety when I put him away. At any rate, he really did well and I'm very pleased with progress to date.

feeling a little better

Two good sessions of basic work. Last night I rode Jordan for 30 minutes and did a cruise lesson at the walk and trot. I am pushing him harder through resistance and it's really paying off. All of that bending and yielding in the cruise lesson leads to incredible lateral work!

Today was a longer session with many more transitions. In addition to the cruise lesson (w-t only) we did a lot of 8m circles on one rein only. Lots of w-t-w transitions on the circle as well. His head was rock steady for this. Afterwards quick shoulder in and half passes at the walk, followed by his first mounted lesson with the lasso. The lasso work is quiet and gives him a good reason to just stand still while I get my loop made up. My rope work is terrible so he has a long time to learn patience!

back to basics

Micki & Lija visited yesterday to check up on things. I was happy that Jordan was able to show them some improvement, but disappointed that some basic issues were still not solved. At this point of training he should not be sticking his nose out so much. So this morning we did a long cruise lesson at the trot and a lot of bending around barrels. I did not let him rest until he could stretch his neck at the trot on a loose rein. I also set up some trot poles. I feel we need some longer sessions that will challenge his patience and push him through to a higher level. Right now he is still limited to "sunny days, short sessions, quiet rider, etc." Jordan needs to increase his range of tolerance.

Lija had a nice ride on him and made him look pretty if I was quick on the shutter.

family day

Mom & Dad brought my two nephews over yesterday and they all hopped on Jordan for quick rides. Jordan did his first mounted bow with Gus on his back. Way to go, Jordan!

This morning was a terrific session. Jordan did very good half passes in both directions. I rode with spurs for the first time and he reacted very well to them. My use of the dressage whip is sloppy so I really benefit from riding with spurs, especially for half pass and renvers/travers. Just can't seem to get the whip to touch at the right spot back there on the outside

Double session

Second ride in the double bridle today. Doing well. Many more transitions helping with impulsion. Pushed him through some fussing and he handled it well. Overall very calm and accepting. Halt-trot transition almost there. Travers coming along. Half pass still sketchy. Good long ride.

Goat session

About a 1 hour session this morning. The goats were in the back pasture with full access to the arena, but they ignored us anyway. First half was flat work--shoulder in and travers and the walk and trot. Started renvers--looked solid. Losing impulsion at the trot on lateral work. Need to release him more into the extensions. Go go go. Walk halt walk looking good. Trot halt trot still sketchy. Great neck extension all around.

Second half jumping. Set up two cavaletti 12' apart as an in and out. Tight turns in the small arena, but he did great. Took full loops around the pasture at a canter. Butter smooth all around.

first ride in the double

Had a fun quick ride last night at sundown. Just grabbed Jordan and hopped on to show Maria our jumping skills. Took 6-8 jumps in either direction and cantered over the double jumps once. Maria said we looked great! He is a pleasure to jump.

Today I missed riding early and then it rained. Finally did a quick ride at 7:00 pm. Tried the double bridle for the first time and it went well. We have worked the double in-hand about 6 times so far and he has been getting progressively better with it. Today's ride with the double was impressive--he halted with a steady head and didn't fuss too much over the curb. He is accepting the curb nicely and his flexion at the poll was noticeably increased. Just walk-trot and some lateral work.

interesting weird details

Woke up late and didn't get saddled up until 6:45. By then it was already pretty hot. Jordan was a bit tired and slow. Nevertheless we had a good session, all flatwork today.

Travers at the walk coming along well. Renvers on the circle developing. More good shoulder in at the trot. Can lose impulsion. Left rein of shoulder in requires more finesse--the right shoulder in is on auto pilot. Riding straight on the right rein he shows a very steady head at the trot with nice flexion at the poll. On the left rein he sticks his nose out more and it takes a lot of fooling around to bring him on the bit.

Multiple canter departs on both leads. Right lead difficult to pick up--missed it several times.

Many walk halt walk transitions today. Doing much better. Small attempts at effet d'ensemble to some effect.

best yet

This morning was the best yet. Jordan is stretching at the walk and trot, lengthening and shortening at the walk and trot as well. Halts almost on the bit now. Shoulder in at the trot on both reins, straight and on circles. Half-pass at the trot on both reins (semblance). Great jumps in both directions, plus took the double cavalletti jump. Nothing knocked over, so no points taken off! Another hot morning, but Jordan is taking it in stride.

Two jump sessions

At dusk yesterday I did a quick session of lunging over low jumps. It was fun and he looks great in the air. This morning I did a regular session of lateral work and then did the jumps mounted. Nice jumps in both directions, with very easy run outs. He is a smooth jumper and does not over-jump, which is good because I'm not much of a jumping rider!

I still wish he could trot better on a loose rein without speeding up. He needs more circle work at this point and is not quite ready to work straight and calm at the trot. It doesn't help that the gnats are just awful right now. But he is trying hard and really doing as well as any horse could do in these conditions.

A.M. jump session

We were saddled up by 6:00 am this morning to beat the heat. Steady progress. Shoulder in at the trot on both reins. Good position and control. Trotting on a loose rein OK now, although he will rush eventually. Travers at the walk improving. Left rein is more difficult. Jumped a cavalletti at the trot. Both directions 6-8 times. No hesitation, no over-jumping, calm and regular. Jordan did spectacular considering the heat and gnats out.

early ride

Worked for 45 minutes this morning before it got hot. No lunging, just a little bit of ground work. He can step over nearly straight or with a little counter-bend for one or two steps now. He can also step into a half-pass for one or two steps from the ground. Difficult to do this correctly.

In the saddle he is warming up very easily now. Nice serpentines at the walk and trot with little fuss over the change of bend. Trot-walk transitions with a mostly steady head now. Right bend easier than left. Canter on 15m circles in both directions. Terrific shoulder in and discernible travers on both reins. Neck extension at the trot. Beautiful collected trot after shoulder-in at the walk.

Really great sessions

Worked Jordan last Thursday morning and again today after I got back from Mincocqua. Terrific sessions. Lots of trot on circles and bending to a halt. Changing bend well. Lots of rein changes on the diagonal. Giving very good trot after quick walk sessions in shoulder-in. Walk-halt transitions reasonably on the bit--a big improvement. Straight-line trot really coming along.

working hard

Two terrific sessions yesterday and today. I am focusing hard on getting a solid one-rein stop. Jordan is super soft in the face but has trouble stopping his feet. For today's session I did a lot of yielding the hindquarters at a trot first, to give him a reason to stop. I also yielded his hindquarters when he rushed at the trot. I think this approach will work better. The one rein stop is coming, but too often he will not stop walking or will walk off when I try flexing his head at the halt.

Jordan is giving a better trot on larger circles now, including some straight line work.

For ground work I am desensitizing to the lunge whip and teaching him to stand still better. The right side is very good now. There is almost no remaining ticklish left on this side.

Shoulder-in at the walk very solid and controllable now.

In-hand work with the double bridle a few times now in the evenings, plus bow work and rope desensitizing.

basics

Two sessions today. Morning session was long reining, including multiple changes of rein and many transitions. More in-hand work including beginnings of renvers and half-pass. Fussy on the right side, but he's figuring it out.

Afternoon riding session with only a little ground work prep. Hot, humid, and buggy. I don't care--Jordan needs to live with a little adversity. He does well. Lots of one-rein stops from the walk and the trot. He is stretching wonderfully during the breaks. Trot still gets rushed but I think we are laying the groundwork for something better. He is figuring it out. Beautiful bows today--will try with Maria in the saddle on the next cool day.

Solid groundwork

I did ground driving sessions with Jordan yesterday afternoon and today. Very solid sessions. Bending well and changing directions more easily now. Able to flex laterally at a halt. Some backing. W-T-C. Good head position off the cavesson. Will try the bit again tomorrow.

Jumping barrels from a halt later in the day. A little trouble controlling his excitement when cantering on the lunge. Should be more desensitized to the lunge whip.

Focusing on getting good flexions off of the bridle, inside and outside. I think his one rein stop needs to be trained better for safety.

waiting for the trot

We did not work much on Friday--just a bit of lunging. We also walked Jordan up to the street a couple of times to get him prepared for trailer loading.

Today I carefully lunged Jordan and worked him from the ground before mounting. He is cantering from voice commands well, and doing nice trot-canter-trot transitions. After mounting, he did well at the walk with very little fussing. The trot is a still a challenge. He sticks his nose out and will only bring it in on a circle. He pitched a fit again and reared a bit when he wanted to run back to the barn.

To experiment a bit I long-reined him in the afternoon with surcingle and snaffle bit. He walked and trotted well, and never stuck his nose out at all. In fact, he was consistently behind the vertical despite being very light with my hands. Next time we may lunge off the cavesson to keep his head up more. Anyway, this makes me suspect Jordan still has a relatively weak back and is still not accepting the rider 100%. Need more training!

cranky session

Worked about 35 minutes this morning w-t-c, all mounted. Probably should have lunged first because Jordan was really cranky! Lots of head tossing, difficult to relax him. There were some gnats but he should be able to deal with this. He would relax in the bend but on a loose rein he would toss quite a bit. Need to give this some thought.

A little better for the renvers on the circle. Still figuring this one out.

BEAUTIFUL bows yesterday. I went out around 3:00 and he gave me 3 for 3 bows all the way to the ground, staying down almost 4 seconds each time. Way to go, Jordan! At least he'll look good for some pictures. :)

regular session

Yesterday afternoon I grabbed Jordan and had him jump the barrels a few times. It was too hot to do much else. He is clearing the barrels well, but I'd like to see him round better. For some reason he looks better on the right rein than the left. Should keep working on this until he softens better. Overall, lunging is pretty good now. Getting softer on the right rein, for sure.

This morning we did walk and trot work in the new arena. He is doing good shoulder in on the circle now, at the walk and trot. Waiting for him to show more expression at the trot. His work was a little rushed this morning. He has the idea of travers on both reins now, and is well started on renvers on the circle, both reins. We can do good shoulder in on straight lines, too, at walk or trot. No canter work today.

No more work on the bow recently--can't get his attention with all the gnats in his face. Need to wait for some cooler weather or windy days. However, he is dealing better with the bugs in general.

first shoulder in at the trot

Jordan tried out my new "arena" in the back pasture this morning and liked it. Now we have some straight sides to work against. We did just a couple minutes of stepping over before mounting. He still walks off when first mounted, need to stop this now. Good shoulder in on both sides, getting better at changing sides. Haunches definitely drift over to the right. Got a little renvers on the right rein, so I have the tools to fix this. Did a few w-t-w transitions in shoulder-in. 45m session.

morning session

Worked early again, bugs were better. Starting to ask for full lengths of shoulder-in. After a few minutes of shoulder-in at the walk he is giving a very nice trot. More bending barrels and a little bit of renvers/travers. First time tacking up in barn. Standing well ground tied. Lunged off of the bit for the first time, accepted it well. Waiting for more softness on the right lunge.

Showing off for family

Mom, Dad, and Kate came over for a cookout today. Jordan & I did a little showing off to keep the party entertained, and Dad snapped some pictures. Jordan did his first bow for an audience, even though I only started training this trick two days ago!

real shoulder in

Still dealing with bugs this morning, small gnats that drive both of us crazy! I may have to wait for windy days to do good work this summer.

Jordan did very well and keeps his head in spite of the bugs. He is doing good shoulder-in on both reins now. To the left it takes some effort to keep the haunches from falling out. At this point he does half-pass better than travers. Weird, but we'll take it! Tried some shoulder-in at the trot, and more transitions. We took one nice jump from the saddle--he shows talent for jumping. Trot starting to emerge.

Yesterday he gave me one nice bow in the barn. This took probably 20 minutes total of prep time over the last 3 days. Wow--what a good head on this horse.

bugs have arrived!

The hot weather rolled in overnight so Jordan & I did not get much work done this morning. We tacked up at 6:00 am to beat the heat, but there were still clouds of gnats driving us both crazy. I did 25 minutes of trot work and put him away. He is bending more easily and can change bend without too much resistance now.

Last night we did ground work for 20 minutes and I introduced him to ground driving. When we were done I just took off his halter and let him be in the pasture where we were working. But he was stuck in my pocket! Jordan followed me around for 5 minutes before he realized the session was over and he could go back to grazing. :)

lots of trot

This morning we worked early to beat the heat. Less lunging and more riding. w-t-w transitions on lunge improving. A little bit of cross-canter on the left rein. Desensitizing with noisy feed sacks went very well. Shoulder-in on 10m circles good. Introduced renvers on 10m circle. Travers on right rein good, left rein resisting a bit. Lots of trot on 10m circles followed by long trots around the pasture. Got him good and sweaty this time.

Last night ground work only--some jumping, backing, and yielding forequarters. Leading by ropes around all legs now. Ready for ground driving.