Friday School (and some new video)

Prair had a nice school on Friday, and I managed to snag a couple short vids from it (woo!)

She's definitely back in "winter mode" that is to say she's snorty, and blowy and about 20% more concerned with life in general than she is in the warm summer sunshine....

All things considered though, even with her scatter brain, she is about a million times more manageable than she was in "winter mode" last year.  Yay for progress (of sorts).

blurry, but manageable.

Our recent focus has been trying to get Prair to be more responsible for herself and less reliant on her rider to keep her packaged/balanced/contained. (If this sounds repetitive, it is most certainly, an ongoing goal.)

Of course this whole concept is easier said than done, especially because when I'm in the role of "rider" my comfort zone firmly overlaps with micromanaging the mare and over riding.... It's safe to say that allowing the mare to have some breathing room and to make her own mistakes is just as hard on me as it is on her. 

After warm up, the entirety of this ride was just figure-eighting back and forth over two verticals, working on staying quiet, soft and asking Prairie to take care of herself in the last couple strides. 

She looked pretty good in terms of relaxation and not being a moron, although she was a bit on her forehand most of the time. (not something I'm concerned with at the moment)




To finish, Prair cooled out with a "big" trot without any contact.  Just letting her reach and stretch as she wanted and asking her to balance herself.  Again, on the forehand and running a bit, but nice to push her range of motion and see her flick her toes out :)