Two Videos are Better Than One

First up, when R was out at the farm with me yesterday, he took a few short videos of me riding Finn in the new saddle. I wanted to keep it simple, so I rode a large circle around him and he shot a lap or two of each gait. Here is the finished product:



R over-exposed so I'd be able to see detail around the saddle, since that was the main point of the project. Must say, I like how it looks on us!

I think this will also serve as a better "before" video for our study of Dressage, Naturally because I have figured a few things out since that last video that have really shifted some things. For one, Karen's presentation about the four different postures helped me gain clarity. In this video, I am committed to the "whatever" posture... ie - I'm letting Finn do as he pleases. I'm not asking him to hols himself in any particular way, and I'm not being super particular about his energy. I'm just rolling my bubble along and expecting him to stay in it.

One thing I do want to note is that this video definitely shows me I need to revise my feel for energy a bit. Finn is really moving well in this video... certainly not super active and inspiring, but he is a flowing mover with a long stride and a natural desire to stay balanced. While we will, over time, be more balanced and do higher energy things in balance, I think it is a bit unfair of me to pick at him incessantly over this neutral energy, as he is certainly not crawling.

I sort of wish we'd taken some video of our transitions, because our transitions have really gotten better since I started experimenting with "go is release" and being more deliberate about the "get ready" part of the transition. Far from perfect, but so, so much better!

Next up, I took the tarp out with me today and alternated playing with it and playing with the cavalletti. Finn ACED the cavalletti, by the way... even at the canter! He definitely showed me that he understood the objective of maintaining gait through the canter poles, and even adjusted his stride approaching the poles to meet them at a doable distance. Super horse!

Back to the video, though, this is just one of the things we did with the tarp today. I was super pleased with Finn's reaction. This is where we ended up, obviously; not where we started. Even when we started, though, he was very self-controlled. I kept tossing until he could refrain from moving his feet to sniff the tarp where it landed.

You can see in the video that a couple unexpected things happened, and Finn handled them like a pro. Go pony!



We also worked on crossing the tarp and had the interesting revelation that sometimes more is better. For example, crossing the tarp at a trot might be easier than crossing it at a walk. And getting a walk across the whole tarp laid flat might be easier than getting the walk when the tarp is folded in half. All in all, I'm happy I was able to keep an open mind and be flexible in search of what would help Finn accomplish what I was asking of him!