Zena and I work with a trainer once per week. Twice would be nice, right? I know. BUT… finances, time and all that. So for now its once per week, usually one evening mid-week for an hour or so. My trainer is “S.” More about her in a different post.
Last week, we worked on developing the jog. The JOG, you are thinking, right? “Surely her horse can already jog.”
“They can’t JOG?”
We can jog, but we go too fast and hit the ground too hard. We stride out too far, and need to work on soft, short steps that barely touch down. So, we spent most of our time at one end of the arena, seeking soft straightness, relaxation with levelness, and encouraging her to slow down while lifting her back. S had me work in large circles, stopping from time to time, asking for a few steps of back, then a roll back to the outside over the hocks, then continue in the new direction at an ideally more framed up (back lifted) jog. Once we were starting to achieve that, we rolled back and loped off. SUCCESS!!! The best quality lope I have yet to get on Zena! She seemed to appreciate the slow and specific cue process and relaxed into the work, as never before. Of course, the 110 head index probably helped. We didn’t lope a lot, but what we got was her best yet! HAPPY DANCE! Then back to jog – with improvement!
I rode her again on Sunday…. and it was still “in there.” #horsejoy