So, on Monday I rode again, and JJ was awesome again. Pictures below to prove there were some good moments and, of course, some bad moments! I put him back in his stall for dinner and was chatting with friend/barn owner (henceforth FBO) about teaching JJ to trailer. She practices a lot of horsemanship and groundwork and graciously offered to teach me a few things with JJ. COOL! We got to work that evening. She showed me certain cues to get him to move his feet in very specific ways, and how to ask him to walk, trot, sidestep with the hind end, and side step with his forehand. JJ responded very willingly and I was very impressed.
On Tuesday I just worked on solidifying my knowledge of the simple groundwork I'd learned Monday. Friend/fellow board (henceforth FFB) was in the ring and offered to do a little work with JJ (she also knows the ways of the horsemanship). She played with him for a bit before FBO returned from work and showed me the next step: asking JJ to pass between objects. She set up two roll tops about 2 feet apart, leaving a narrow hallway for JJ to walk through, then asked him to do so. He put up quite a fight about this, and the reality struck: if he was so hesitant just to walk between a couple jump obstacles, how would he ever walk onto a trailer?! She did get him through eventually and then asked him a few more times, and he was better.
Wednesday I had a lesson with eventing rider (henceforth ER). ER really liked JJ but said I needed to put a lot of work into getting him looser in the neck and shoulders and better at bending around corners. We spent the majority of the hour just on that one thing and made some serious progress. The video below was taken towards the beginning of the lesson - I wish I had one of the end of the lesson to for comparison!!
On Thursday I did more groundwork. I had JJ going through the roll tops easily so I set up two coops side by side and asked him to walk between them. He hesitated a bit but went through much more easily this time around. So, I asked him to step over a low cavaletti. Easy. I raised it. Easy. I put one of the roll tops under it. Uhh... Little scarier. He went around it once and the next time he jumped/fell over it. Good enough. I asked him to go over that a few more times, then asked him to jump a pair of sawed-in-half blue barrels. Not a problem (aside from the whole coordination thing). Cool!
AAAND today! I was excited to hop back on today and work on the things we'd done Wednesday in the lesson. I tried to do all of the same things that ER had showed me, but of course the ride was not going nearly as well. I spent 45 minutes trying NOT to get frustrated, and in truth there were some nice moments, but eventually I threw my hands in the air (by which I mean I sat and asked JJ to walk and dropped the reins to the buckle). Fed up with bad circles, I glanced at the trailhead that branches straight off of the riding ring. I would swear it was calling my name. Well, why not? So out we went - JJ on his first ever trail ride! I wasn't expecting anything and I don't know the trails at all (hey, I never said I was smart), so I sort of planned to just go a few hundred feet and then turn around. JJ was so good that we went quite a bit farther than planned though! He marched into the woods with his neck stretched down, nose straight out, and ears pricked forward. I steered him around a few right turns, thinking I might find a short loop back to the barn. I'm pretty sure I would have too, but we came upon a giant fallen birch limb with branches and leaves strewn all across the trail. Surrounding the branches was about 6 inches of mud. I considered trying to get around it anyway, but decided not to push my luck so we turned back. BUT I am still super proud and impressed with this little 5 year old marching into the woods for the first time without a buddy so boldly!! Go J-Man!
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