With a nice 48 degrees this am, tacked up Katz. Today, rather than get him ready in his stall, which is what I have been doing, I put him in the cross ties to see what he knew about this. Stood just fine. Once out to round pen, he was a bit full of himself. I barely got his reins tucked up when he pulled away and took off. So he got to go around for awhile. His trot is improving in that he is not landing on his toes with a short step rather he is striding out. I think he is finding his balance on the circle. After a bit, gathered him up and over to mounting block. He stood, I got on . No drama. That is now 2 days in a row of mounting success! Maybe I am really making progress? We worked on trot today and bending. He does try to fall to the inside, which ever way we are going so I am working on getting him more balanced. What is working for him since he is learning that a little bit of bit pressure does not mean go faster, is if he starts to lean in, I put my inside leg on, use my outside rein for direction, inside rein when I want a bit more bend. But the key is, very little rein and not together. So it goes something like this: Katz starts leaning to the inside, inside leg a bit behind the girth and pressure, fingers on the outside rein close, then release. During the release of the outside rein, more pressure on the inside. If no bend, the quick pressure on the outside, release with a bit more closing of fingers on the inside rein. Leg stays on until he bends, even a little. This has help greatly in that he was going around nicely both directions. No falling to the middle of the round pen. Then we walked, practicing bending which he does much better at the walk and making tighter turns.
This blog is dedicated to Off The Track Thoroughbreds. I will warn those that visit this blog that these are my ramblings, my personal experiences with my OTTBs and my future plans or dreams that involve OTTBs. Nothing here is meant to be a 'solution' or professional advice in regards to the training of these wonderful horses, for I am just an amateur.