was fabulous as usual. First we revisited things from the previous lesson, foot placement and being able to touch everywhere. Then we went onto simulations for direct and indirect reins, for some reason this took me ages to get the correct hand position... so glad Tia wasn't on the end of the line then. Simulation for change of direction, just a little bit different to what we've been taught before, so that was ok.
While playing with the circle game and change of direction, Tia was giving me some attitude with a little kick in my direction, so I was trying very hard to use as little energy as possible... it's a fine line between not enough and too much. She picked up the change of direction the first time we did it, I've soooo got to up my game! She keeps outsmarting me!
Direct and indirect rein wasn't too bad but really felt awkward. But when we tried indirect rein from zone 3 it all made sense to me... and Tia, she very quickly started stepping under just from the feel on the halter.
Squeeze game at walk and trot was fine, then I had to stop Tia with zone 3 against the tyres, first try she just squirted through, but she got it the second time and I was able to go and friendly her in zones 4 and 5.
The last task was to ask Tia to straddle a pole, we've never done this before so I wasn't expecting a lot. She stood at the side of the pole lovely no problem there, then I had to use porcupine to ask her to move 1 foot over the pole. The first step was tiny just as close as she could be, then she buried her head in my arms..... and I realised how hard she was finding this. I gave her a rub and a minute to realise she wasn't going to die, then asked for one more try, she stepped over the pole with 1 front foot, such trust deserved a handful of treats and that's exactly what she got and lots of rubs and scratches. All great practice for lorry loading. A week to play and practice before Janine is back again.
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