India's Summer Break is Over

It's still hot, but by middle Georgia standards it's definitely fall weather, so time to resume India's education. I met Jenny early Sunday morning and we began again. Because there was a three month vacation for India, we went back to the very basics, which means working in the round pen.

So, here is POTU in the round pen, all saddled and ready to begin. She looks so ho hum. Is there anything good to eat? Weeds, always a default choice when there is no grass.

When asked to move out, India took off, throwing in a few good bucks. Here's the tail end of one.

Yeah, we do want India to get her ya-ya's out in the round pen before Jenny rides her, but it would be really better if she understood that she doesn't need to have them at all. Here Jenny stops her and pets her. She's telling her "kiddo, you don't need to make it so hard on yourself." India appreciated the rest, but then...

... then she took off again. So Jenny let her do another few circuits of the round pen with several changes of direction. The direction changes prevent India from falling into the mode of zooming wildly around without any thought whatsoever.

India stopped to think about things. You can see her brain processing it all.

She was thinking, "Oh, wait? You mean you don't want me to careen around the round pen at a high rate of speed in this heat and humidity? I get such a nice sheen to my coat when I do, but yeah, it is more pleasant to canter calmly, turn to the inside, and not radiate attitude and wear myself out."

So, once there was this shift, Jenny asked India to do a bit more ground work. She put a rope halter on and asked her to engage her hind by backing in a large circle and made sure she didn't pop her shoulder and used that inner hind leg to freely reach. She was reminding India that she can move her feet and move them well. She also asked India to pivot and change directions, always looking for free movement and a relaxed attitude. Softness is what she wants, not bracey. And that began to happen. India's brain started working and when it did, she relaxed and Jenny got the movement she wanted.

Once India's brain started engaging, it was time to ride her.

And off they ride into the sunset but for it being morning and they're in a round pen, so the sunset comes and goes and comes and goes and comes and goes, if it ever comes at all
And that was pretty much it for India's first day back at school. She didn't do her summer reading, hence the bucking and careening, but she did remember what she learned last year and after a short while she settled into being an adult horse. Two-rein stops, my friend, two-rein stops! Leg yielding!

And then we stopped. No need to wear India out and she was doing what we wanted, so we stopped on a good note after only about five minutes of being ridden.

So, now that we've got that under our girth, we'll start up in earnest. I'll start riding her myself soon, but for this first ride, I wisely let Jenny do it. (In my advancing years, I'm finally learning something, too. ;) Our goal is to continue with what we've started, which is creating a soft riding horse who listens to the rider and responds quickly to the rider's thoughts. That's the overall picture. Although India looks adorable in Western tack, she'll be in English very soon as we're going to start her on ground poles soon with the goal of having her jumping later this fall.

Stay tuned. You know you'll love those pictures of jumping lessons. And if jumping doesn't float your boat, there' s more poetry to come soon. I promise.

I also rode Asia to see how she felt after yesterday's cubbing and she was just fine. We had a lovely ride in the hay field and we were back in the D-ring snaffle. No need for the Mikmar since we weren't chasing after other horses and then fox hounds. There were some nice, smooth canters and some energetic trots and then a good bath after it was all over. I badly need to clean both bridles, but somehow just didn't do that when I got home, despite my best intentions.