Lunging

I didn't get to ride Kieran yesterday, since nobody else was around the barn, so I just brought him in and groomed him up (yay, he wasn't a dirt/mudball this time!). I still haven't found any "itchy" spots for him though sometimes I think I've almost got one when I scritch behind his ears or rub with the rubber curry on his belly and his hip.

Anyway, after that, we went into the arena and, since there was already stuff set up (jump standards as "poles" to weave through, two barrels sitting near each other for some reason, ground poles to trot over, etc) first I just walked with him around, through, and over everything in hand just for the hell of it. Then, I dragged everything out of the middle of the ring and put him on the lunge line.

He lunges pretty well, but I think he probably just did a lot of work at the trot as that's what he's really good at but asking him to go from a trot to a walk usually gets him to go from trot to halt instead, though that could also be an artifact of his training with Carey since she spent a lot of time putting brakes on him and did a lot of trot->halt with him. Even when I'm riding him in the ring, I really have to work to get him to transition into a walk instead of stopping. So we did some of that and I also asked him to canter and it became obvious that was one thing he really hadn't done on the lunge line. I only had him go around at the canter once each way, mostly to see if he'd do it but I didn't want to overdo it since he isn't used to it.

After that, I had him stand ground-tied while I picked out the arena and then it was more scritchy time before I let him back out to his field. He's a good boy. :)

Assuming everything works out today, I plan on going back up to see him this afternoon. Whether I ride him or not still depends on whether anybody's in the barn (that's up in the air) but I'll at least work with him some more on the ground because I figure it's still working with him to reinforce that he has to do what I tell him.

It's actually funny to me that it seemed like he'd trot forever without a lot of encouragement on the lunge line but it's much more work to get him to do it under saddle. Of course, on the lungeline he only has to carry himself around. ;)

Anyway, even if I don't ride him today, I'll be riding him in my lesson tomorrow and Christina asked me if I minded if she used him for someone's lessons on Sunday which...I don't, really. I know the rider and I know she's not going to screw him up (nor would Christina put someone on him that would) and I can't be up there on the weekends right now anyway and I figure it'll be good for him.

So that's where we are now.

Maybe if we just do lunging today, I'll try and take video at the same time. :)

And, I don't have any pictures from last night but here's one of Christine the day she lunged him not long after I got him: