ST Session - September 29th

The weather finally was nice. But everywhere around the stable there is just horrible mud, the horses sink into it especially near the pasture gate, where the earth is trampled. I met Karina grazing on the bank of the ditch, together with a playful gelding. She refused to come to me in the direction where he stood, so I moved to the other side and there she came to me. She didn't like walking through the mud, but she seemed quite happy about going to work. I squeezed her through a tiny opening in the gate, because the gelding was waiting for the opportunity to bolt through the opening, so I had to be careful. Karina waited for me at the other side of the gate and together we went to the stableyard. I groomed her and I've noticed that, though now she is spending nights in the stable, she seems not to be laying herself for the sleep (or the straw in her stall is just exceptionally clean) and she started to eat the straw again. I don't know what it means, she has more than enough hay (there is always some left). Maybe the hay is just too sweet and she needs more fibre.

Anyway, I groomed her as usual, she pawed a little, but stopped at my request and started playing with the rope. I put a cavesson on and we went for a walk to do some warming up. I asked her to lower her head and take a little stelling while walking straight, so we tried a little shoulder forward exercise. Karina started chewing and licking, so it seemed to me that she actually liked it. After the walk I wanted to work a little on the poles and cavalettis, to engage her hind legs a little, but as nothing was prepared, we just walked over some poles (Karina rushed on them a little – was she scared or eager?) and went to the roundpen to work on our ST.

This time I paid more attention to the inside hind leg movement. The whole procedure, together with a little warm up in a standstill, took about four minutes. I think that was optimal, because Karina had no time to get bored or tired with my excess requests. I changed directions a lot and gave Karina carrots (of course, only when I was satisfied with the quality of her LFS) to keep her motivated. She accepted those little treats with cold dignity, which is so characteristic for her, now when she is not hungry anymore...

After I watched the video from the training, I've noticed all the mistakes I've made. I should have asked Karina to take more stelling, I've left her head without cavesson control. I should have worked on bigger circles to the right, as Karina tends to fall on her right front leg. But we're making progress, and a big one: after the ST session, Karina's back was lifted and slightly rounded in the loins. The difference was stunning, and yet I know that it is going to be better still. Also this time Karina didn't resist to the cavesson pressure and she didn't push back on it, as could be visible in our previous video (her upper neck muscles were hard and tense). This time her neck was pretty loose and relaxed. She didn't chew or lick during the ST, but this is still to come when she relaxes more. I just can't wait for our next training, I'm planning to do some exercises on poles to warm up and engage the hindquarters.

After we finished working in the roundpen, I worked a little on her obedience: I opened the roundpen gate and stood there for a moment. Usually Karina is very eager to leave it, but this time she just stood beside me relaxed and waiting for me to give her directions. Then we went back to the stableyard, but suddenly Karina stopped halfway there and didn't want to come. That was pretty strange. In fact, there was the new horse grazing beside the roundpen and maybe she just wanted to join him. I asked her to come with me to the stableyard anyway and there I dressed her up in her halter and we went back to the roundpen to graze. The other horse was gone now, but Karina was happy enough with the beautiful grass that was growing there. Afterwards we went back to stable. I decided not to massage her and I just led her to the pasture. She didn't want to go, because that awful mud was everywhere around the gate. I asked her to go anyway, and led her over a harder ground and then I left her with her mates in the pasture.