Eighth Ride

On Wednesday, I headed to the barn to ride Gambler. I don't usually see him on Wednesdays, but Kezi was at the U getting spayed. I thought I would take advantage of Gambler's solitude and put another ride on him. This time I convinced my poor brother to brave the cold and take pictures. The camera didn't approve of the cold either (which is why I've been using my phone), so the pictures are blurry. I don't mind - I'm just glad to have them!

I warmed Gambler up by longeing walk/trot. The ground is still too frozen and muddy to canter without slipping. Gambler was a little spooky at first without Kezi. After a while, he settled down. I think he enjoyed having a job to do.

Gambler was a dream at the mounting block, he didn't put up a fuss at all. Such an improvement from just a month ago! Mom led him a little bit, and then she longed him. Gambler remembered the cues from the day before. I was able to ask him to stop, back up, turn, and move forward. I think it helped that I squeezed with my legs and then clucked - a vocal cue he is familiar with. 

At one point during the ride Gambler decided to trot. It was one of the pretend spooks he uses to get away with trotting when I'm circling him at a walk. I asked him to walk and he stopped. Not perfect, but it's good to know the brakes are working. I was happy to find that my instincts were right, Gambler does have a smooth, enjoyable trot.

We had a huge breakthrough near the end. Gambler has really bad posture on the circle. He tends to drop his inside shoulder and try  to spiral in toward the handler. If you look closely you can see that my outside foot is always farther down and my inside shoulder is too low. That is because I was subconsciously countering his posture. Well, I started asking him to spiral out a bit with an outside open rein. He got it! I was very impressed with him. 

I even got a couple videos!

My brother said "Smile!" Gambler closed his eyes.