Oh dang it, we talked about the final exam today in class, and I'm really worried about it. I'm kind of afraid I'm going to fail. The things that we have to do are: 180* hind yield, 180* front yield, lope a big circle and trot a small one, walk 1 step forward 1 step back, 2 steps forward and 2 steps back, do 8 transitions each with 8 strides, the ground poles, and the cones (both of those are on the ground), and one 'freestyle'. So, for the freestyle one, we can choose whatever we want to do, whether it be standing on their back, going over the jump, on the bridge, or anything else that we can do.
After we went over what was going to be on the test, we just rode to work on everything by ourselves. At the end of the day, this is how I'm feeling:
180* hind yeild: I think we'll be ok, it takes a while, but we can usually get him to go almost a 180* without picking up his pivot foot.
180* front yield: I'm afraid of failure on this one. He just does a really small circle, or he'll just plant his feet.
Circles: Failure. I can't get him to lope an entire circle, and I can't get a round circle.
1 step forward, 1 step back: Failure. He doesn't stop going forward after just one step. We can go back one step, but not without using my reins.
2 steps forward, 2 steps back: Half-failure. I figure if I just try for 1 step then I'll get closer to 2...
Transitions: We'll do ok, if I can get him to lope for 8 strides.
Ground poles and cones: I have no idea. I haven't done any ground work with him, but I'm not allowed to use Jack, so I'm going to have to spend a lot of time working on it.
Freestyle: I think I'm probably going to do a jump, because he really seems to like it.
I also talked to Brother Twitchell today about what to do when Poncho is loping out of dominance. What he recommended is to let him lope when he does it, and once he slows down to what I was asking for, reward that, and then maintain the trot. So, next time that is what I'm going to try, and I'll see what happens.
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