Lessons (8/3/20 & 8/10/20)

Heyo!

I hope y'all are doing well. I've been doing more liberty work with Rudy and have "upgraded" to riding tackless. I started riding again last week and my teacher got some recordings but for my privacy I won't be sharing those.

So last week at my lesson, I did a little bit of groundwork before getting on. I just walked around with him following. I then tied the end of the lead rope to his halter to make reins and use them as an emergency control. I walked around for awhile then the lead rope fell so I went ahead and unclipped it and set it down, so now he only had a halter on. Later on I took off his halter. Basically the whole of that lesson was being out of control and trying to get him to go in a circle and not a figure 8. Eventually I got him to do some good laps at a walk and trot.

So today, I first did some ground work. I worked on sideing and having him move his front end. He was more responsive this time to moving his front legs, but I still need to work more on that. He sideed really well. I also had him follow me at a walk for a few turns and just a couple minutes around the arena. Afterwards I hopped on. I used the lead rope as a neck rope. It gave me a lot more control while still technically being tackless. I was lazy and left his halter on but it was just a sitting duck. At first I tried using the whip to control him but that didn't work, so I just used the lead/neck rope. I walked a lot and trotted a lot, and then I decided I wanted to try and lope. I felt comfortable and balanced, and I had enough control to keep him in a large circle. So I asked him for a lope, and without much urging (thankfully) he went into a stride. He was kindof slow so I had to push him every now and then, but I got some good laps before he started giving me trouble. He threw his head down and tried to buck, and ended up stopping. so I got him back in line and tried loping again. He went into it well and at first threw his head down, but he didn't buck and he was loping well so I didn't do anything. I had him go about 1 lap before stopping and ending the lesson on a good note.

So yeah, that's generally how my lesson(s) went :3 I'd say my liberty journey with Rudy is going really well and has been progressing strongly since I started. I'm hoping to eventually be able to hop on with nothing and just use my leg, voice, hands and seat to guide him, but for now, a neck rope is good enough for me.

Have a wonderful week and stay healthy!

~HorseCrazy :purple_heart: