Day 4!

Yesterday morning was pretty productive, riding wise. I had a lesson with Susan and we worked on keeping him consistently moving forward, responding quicker to my aids. He is getting so much better in the past few days, I can feel the difference between Saturday and now. 

We also worked a lot on first level stuff- canter loops, leg yields, lengthening's. He nailed the canter loops as counter-canter is his favorite exercise. The leg yields, however, do need a lot of work. He crosses over well, but he doesn't move off my leg very easily and it takes somewhat of a fight to get him to the wall. His lengthening's are getting there, as they will never be 7's, I can still work on getting them as uphill as I can and getting as much reach over the back as possible. 

Cody is also getting so much better about not throwing his head up when he is confused. Saturday and Sunday, when he put his head up, my hands went down. Now, he rarely throws his head up, and if he does, it was a rider problem. Since he is so much more consistent, I can sit most of the trot. Which, in the long run, makes my transitions more over the back. 

Kristin also rode Cody last night and we came to the conclusion that he didn't like his bit. He's very reluctant to really loosen his jaw, he has a problem of setting it and getting mad when you ask him to move it. He was in a Neue Schule so we are trying just a plain, loose ring snaffle and we will see how he does. I'm sure he will like it, it is the shape of his old bit that is bothering him. 

Since the weather was good, Cody also got a liniment bath since he had worked so hard today. He always feels better after a liniment bath, it relieves his muscles or any soreness in the body that was bothering him. He's also been wearing his hock boots over night and he continues to feel better in his movement and desire to move forward. He is definitely a spoiled pony when it comes to care.

 

             Spoiled pony!