Day 41: November 29 - Yielding

Again, at this point I'm really glad that I did 4-H and that I learned how to do all of these things years ago. Today in class we talked some more about the front and hind yields and how to do them. These are things that I had to do for my shows, so I had to teach my horses how to do them. I've had a lot of the girls in class come and ask me how to do it, and it's seemed to help them, but they do forget and ask to be reminded often, so I'm just glad that I can help, and that I don't need reminded anymore because of all the hours I've spent doing it.

As for Poncho's performance when it comes to getting these turns, I do wish it was better. He's pretty good at the hind yield, and he'll go about 90* before he stops. So, I only have a little bit more before we get to the required amount for the final. With the front yield though, we MIGHT get one good step before he steps out of it. Its strange, because with all of the horses I've ridden before, the hind yield was always so much harder than the front yield, so this is a lot different. He'll walk in a really small circle for me, but he just wont plant one foot. I'm really not confident at all in being able to get him to do this one right in time for the final.

Trying to yield the front end.

We also worked some on the transitions, and I think if I can get him to continue loping for eight strides, than we'll do pretty good on it. He's really sensitive to my energy changes, it's just a matter of him doing it. He knows what I'm asking for, he just doesn't usually want to move faster. But, as soon as I lower my energy he does break down to the next slower gait. I love it, because he is doing SO much better than he was when I first started riding him.