january 7, 2022

We got a whole foot of snow today. The horses and dogs are quite happy. Learned how to use the plow on the Kubota. I also figured out how to back up the 4-wheeler today. Trying to write in my gloves to break them in.

Another informative & confidence building lesson. Started with walking backwards and he started soft and relaxed. I started to play with the whip aids —> to move shoulders out by tapping on the inside shoulder, to influence inside hind leg to step under the center of mass by tapping at the girth area. He’s very sensitive, but I think it started to frustrate him because he started being very mouthy and bitey after a few minutes of trying those aids out and him responding nicely. Maybe it just became a lot for him to process. So I turned to walking alongside him and he got very emotional and challenging my influence by turning to face me with pinned ears and resisting to move his shoulders around me. I stay consistent and persistent, I’m not being unfair but he does need to accept my influence so I can help him use his body to find balance.

We worked through it again into some great soft supple moments where I had the ability to move his shoulder. I was able to help him lift through his sling muscles so he could naturally stretch down under saddle!! Because his shoulders are easier to influence than the hind legs, shoulder issues take less time to resolve —> now that I have this influence under saddle of dominant right shoulder, I can help Karl stay in balance so he can move through the spine into a relaxed vertical alignment.

The next step now is to start influencing the left hind to step under and not swing out so we can achieve even more balance, especially tracking left. Also working on his issues with restraint/vets.