Monday - Try and Devon

Try:

We began with grooming in the back paddock. Try had ant bites and really enjoyed my currying them. Then I decided I was emotionally strong enough to go back to Boss Mare and tried out the straddle the pole task right off the bat. She knows it and she did it but I truly see a pretty relaxed horse who lacks much commitment to the task. Perhaps tomorrow I can go back to Gretchen's sticking together into Boss Mare/Stallion?? Also I didn't think I was nagging/overcueing but I bet if Try were truly motivated/commited rather than fairly obedient,  I could point to the pole from 20' away and she would go straddle it.

Here I am working on sitting the canter--why is this more difficult with shorter reins?
Also getting a couple steps of shoulder in--I would actually call it outside shoulder forward.

GOAL was to videotape and observe Try without judgement a la exercise 1 of Karen Rohlf.
My observations--Try's attitude is fairly positive in the straddle the pole and some opposition in the riding. She does not appear scared and is sweet much of the time. Her gaits show a lack of commitment but she has more energy that just shuffling along. We circled on line and her trot and canter looked similar to riding. It would be good to repeat this exercise testing for communication, what happens when I ask for more energy, etc.

Exercise 2: with on line circling will she maintain the circle if I move closer and farther away from her and the answer today was yes.

Devon Day 3:

Today I worked on my form and strength. Follow my focus was way better. I was expecting to keep having to ask him to go forward and in fact was overcueing him and he was fine.

After the warmup I worked on 2 point with an emphasis on feeling the ball of my foot solidly in the stirrup. Then did double and triple posting and single posting to FEEL the position and it was way better. Also no stirrups and next time I will do it right after the warmup. Canter laps also--he picked up the canter easily and next time I will keep the long big kiss and experiment with how much leg I need.

Downward transitions for next time: Take my time with the cueing of legs neutral and sitting deep to see if he will make the transition from body weight alone.

Corrections to make: open chest, hip angle, feel solid in the stirrup. QUIET hands.

Devon video: