Couldn't be more proud...

Today's freestyle ride was one of the calmest we've ever had. We started off really slow, doing full zone 1 turns with hindquarters not moving. Then, sideways in walk and trot. Once Juliano delivered a precise sideways in trot we could move on to canter. As we were both very calm and focused on one another we could do graceful walk to canter transitions and after that come back to a walk. After few circles of walk-canter-walk I asked Juliano to come back to a walk after 4 strides of canter and we made it! I was super excited and proud. For some horses it is easy to come back to a walk but for us it was always THE most difficult thing - to stop. We never made it in 10 strides let alone 4. It was always: canter, please come back to a walk, 30 strides later and we are still cantering or doing a choppy trot. It was an amazing feeling when Juliano just calmly glided back to a walk.

Liberty

We are finally starting to progress at liberty. For Juliano round corral served only one purpose "Get in and run. Run like crazy". Every time we tried anything at liberty J would get on a circle and panic. Before I got him he used to be exercised in a round corral and a lot of pressure was put on him. This is why it took us ages to start doing correct changes of direction. Before, as Juliano was chased in the corral, he used to turn away from human to make a change. In order to correct that we wend back on-line in the round pen and took baby steps. Every time J would panic and turn away I waited and asked for hind-quarter disengagement. Today I took the halted of and everything came together. We did transitions from trot to walk, walk to halt, walk to canter. After that Juliano was hooked and we started playing with changes of direction. To my surprise Juliano did great. He didn't turn away, he was focused on me and didn't panic. It was amazing :)

Trying to match up with Juliano

As Juliano is very ambitious lately I found myself a little bit behind him. He is very keen on learning new things and he is showing off things he already knows. We've come to a point where Juliano is acting like a perfect partner most of the times and I can ask him for things like jumping, sideways in trot and extended trot. We could do it before but with maneuvers like this J would easily get excited and break into fast and choppy canter. My main focus over the years with him was not to go to this place and we have worked very hard to maintain gait and keep the relaxation. Now as things have changed we can move on to more advanced riding. Juliano is ready for it, now I have to work on my seat and fluidity to match Juliano's big and exuberant moves.

Here are few photos from our last freestyle sessions:

Jumping J

Extended trot

Sideways in trot

Ohhh and one last thing - I have to let go of the string! I think I will write it on my arm next time we ride "Trust Juliano, don't hold on to the string so much" :)

Sometimes, just everything falls into place

Today, our ride with Juliano was prefect. The sun was shining, J was very willing and positive, I was calm and didn't expect much. Maybe that's why our sideways in trot started working out today. No pressure, everything on "Valium" and suddenly it all came together as a rhythmic side pass. We also managed to work on our canter departures. They used to be very sudden. Canter was hard to control and I wouldn't trust Juliano, I would hold on to the string just in case. Today even this changed :) Juliano was simply brilliant.

Breath of spring

Spring is almost here and although it is still quite cold I think the winter will not last too long now.

Juliano is very positive lately. I think he is a bit bored after winter and wants to play and learn. Yesterday I walked into the paddock with my bareback pad, carrot stick and string. Juliano knows exactly what that means - time to ride. I was sure he would start playing the catching game with me but to my surprise he walked straight to me. He stood besides me while I dusted him off and placed the pad on his back.

Our ride was very playful and I could feel Juliano was having fun. One thing I have noticed lately is that our downward transitions are much better than upward. Hmmm, how interesting. Juliano was a horse very hard to stop and now canter-walk no problem. Walk-canter however is now officially broken. Who would have thought that one day I will have to motivate Juliano to go. The good news is we are very close to having go and whoa equal. This was my dream, for Juliano to have impulsion but not to be impulsive and we are almost there. Another thing we are working on is sideways in trot which is coming together quite nicely.


Juliano is acting like a partner and I couldn't be more happy with him. I think this spring will bring us great things, a lot of fun and yet another breakthrough. I also know I will have to ask more of him in order to be provocative and interesting.

Slow winter

I must admit, we are having a very slow winter. We've had tons of snow during December, which was great. After Christmas thaw came. The snow melted during the day and froze at night leaving us with our yard, fields and paddocks covered in ice. This continued for 2 weeks and it was not even safe to turn our horses out. Snow finally melted and the weather started to resemble early spring. This drove our horses wild. They went out running and bucking - playing like crazy. Finally they could blow off some energy that was building up for the past few weeks.

We didn't ride much, in January we only went for two trail rides in walk mainly. Yesterday I rode Juliano bareback with a string. Our ride was amazing - calm and in harmony. One could say 'normal' but Juliano was full of energy after two weeks of doing nothing. I could feel that energy but he didn't use it against me. He had every right to buck me off but instead he was obedient and calm. We've done some patterns in all 3 gaits, transitions, sideways, circles and after 20 minutes of riding I took Juliano out to the paddock. He rolled, run and bucked. I than played with him at Liberty a bit and he ended up with his head under my arm yawning. Great way to end our day.

Later my friend told me he didn't go out in the morning. I'm sure he wanted to run and buck but he managed to control himself when I was riding him. He is truly a great partner.

Northern Dancer

I have found an interesting documentary about Northern Dancer - Juliano's great-great-grandfather. It's very interesting how his owners and handlers keep saying that he was a celebrity, he demanded attention and was very naughty. Well, Juliano is the same way, simply has to be in the center of attention. Hmm, how interesting...

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2FrZY4mjL4&feature=related

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NsgkXi-xXQ&feature=related

Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLtpKHpRPTY&feature=related

Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyIPD161unw&feature=related