I started Dino out in side-reins and upped it a bit. We walked five minutes, trotted five minutes straight, walked five minutes, reversed directions and repeated. It was the best session to date! He held himself out, had a marching walk and a forward trot. He looked so good that I knew it was time to ride.
I hadn't been on Dino since Kentucky and waited with the idea that we needed to work on the basics. In Kentucky, Dino was extremely bad to the right and did not have the balance or the strength to hold himself out. By lunging him, especially freestyle lunging, and then adding the side reins I believe really helped. The benefit of side-reins is that they show you if your horse is balanced or not, as well as encourage flexion and softness in the mouth. With Dino the side reins, which are the elastic variety, were attached to the lowest ring and started out on the first hole before graduating to the current second hole. By leaving the side reins so loose, Dino is not constricted in his movements and was not going to feel trapped - potentially causing an accident. It will be several months before Dino is ready to graduate to the classical "donut" style side reins, which are heavier and have much less give. In the end, Dino gained the strength and the balance he needed. Also by lunging we were able to work on voice commands, staying relax, and encourage use of the back. A major setback, engaging the inside hind leg. The term is part of form, function and connection from the back-end to the bridle, which is how you ride the horse - from back to front. It also simply means: the horse cannot bend without engaging the inside hind leg. This will come with time.
After our lunging session, Dino was untacked and turned out for 15 minutes to relax and roll if he pleased - which he did. He was then brought back into the barn and tacked up. Back into the arena Dino stood quietly as the girth was tightened and hand walked for few minutes before I mounted up. Once astride, Dino walked calmly around the arena. At one point he did start to jig into a trot which I did allow him to do, I felt if he wanted to work we'd work. We made two turns around the arena and came back down to a walk. The next time Dino started to jig, I verbally told him to walk - which he immediately did.
I learned two important things by riding Dino:
- Dino's trot is better than what it was in Kentucky, but it will take several weeks before his trot will smooth out. Time that lunging won't really help as much as being on his back will.
- Dino is extremely sensitive. When I wanted to change direction, I did not pick up the reins but instead asked with my legs and seat. Dino immediately came off the wall, across the diagonal and back to the rail. This bit of knowledge has me looking forward to when we start adding lateral exercises to our sessions - hopefully next summer.
From here, we will continue with riding three - four days a week, lunge one day a week, and be a happy healthy horse the other days. Riding/lunging times will remain in the 20 minute bracket as will grooming in the 30-45 minute bracket.
Next week, at the four week mark, a picture to show a comparison from when he arrived to now.
