I got Jackson out to do some photos and
videos. First I started with lunging w/ the
cordeo. I just would ask him to trot and
then watch for things to click and reward.
So sometimes he would offer Ramener or he
would drop his head while trotting. I
rewarded those things. We have also been
working on his canter on the lunge line. It
is very fun to see him play around. In the
videos, he is tossing his head. I was a
windy day, so I thought he felt a bit
playful.
Then I worked on his rear. I asked him to
hold it a bit. He didn’t do so well with
that. But I was just having fun watching him
try. Then I asked him to do big rears. I
also discovered something else that I have
to shape separately. I need to figure out a
good cue to give him for when he should wave
his front feet around and when he should
keep them tucked in. Any ideas?
Then I wanted to show his front crunch. He
loves doing them now. He was offering them
over and over! Is it a bad exercise to do? I
mean, is it hard on their bodies? Anyway, he
liked offering that. The think I am
wondering is, should I be rewarding all
these tries? Or should I wait and only click
and reward the ones I ask for?
We did some playing at liberty. That was
fun. He would run to me and we did a little
running together. We did a little bit of the
Spanish walk. It was interesting analyzing
the video of the SW. His left front doesn’t
lift as high, but you can see that his left
hind is lagging behind. I bet if I did more
of JP’s endotapping exercises for
lengthening and collecting, he would be able
to reach farther under himself with his hind
and therefore lift his forehand more. We
will have to try that. …just as soon as I
find my endostick. We also did a little
terre a terre.
I also rode him and it is amazing how much
better he gets each time! We rode in a big
pasture today. He stayed almost entirely
under control. It was windy today and there
were kind of a lot of distractions, but he
stayed with me. He is getting better and
better at turning with just a light body cue
and a very light touch of the cordeo. When
he does nice turning, I try to always click
and reward. I also work on speeding up and
slowing down with my seat. Twice today, he
went into a nice trot off of my seat alone.
Very subtle, very neat!
Even trotting is getting better. He will
stop and turn so much better now. It is very
fun.
