April 15: Straight, tempo and tarp day

Marti Szczur





Another big day of learning. Linda had us working on a pattern to help with straightness and maintaining an even tempo. We used a metronome and posted to the beat that matched our horse’s trotting gait. Toby was 143 BPM (beats per minute.)

We trotted along the long side of arena, but not along the rail. Focused on a spot at end of arena that is 4-5 feet off the rail and rode the line straight. Sitting trot around corners and then back to rising trot. Not as easy as it sounds. Reminder to self … keep elbows back and down, so there is a nice contact with Toby’s mouth without momentary slack in rein and keep it slow. Legs long, sit tall and don’t squish down in saddle when posting.

 




Afternoon was a continuation of blue tarp crossing. Toby was much improved. I moved the tarp to 6 different locations to build his confidence. He did so well, that we ended on loading onto a couple of trailers, which he finds easy.

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