New video!

Each day the pony amazes me with her work ethic. Kelsey came out again today, so I was able to get video and photos of today's ride. And I'm so glad she was there because the pony just worked SO hard.

 Each day she progresses more and more towards self carriage. I have to ask fewer and fewer times, and she seems to really want to go with a loose and supple back. She tries to bend her whole body, and she continually tries to do what I ask. There is definitely something to be said for a horse that tries to please.

Today I warmed up on a loose-ish rein but soon took up contact as the pony reached down for the bit, already trying to flex down and find contact. She wasn't looking for a place to lean, just a place to happily hold the contact so that she could have support while trying to use her hind end to power forward.

The video below is a short collection of pieces from today's ride. You can see that she is now carrying herself well, but that there are still times, especially on circles when she loses the carriage a bit and it takes a few strides to regain her balance.

Also I hope you like the pictures that Kelsey has taken. I especially love the one of her bowing. It seems trivial, but since we started working on the bow she has really been able to stretch her back out after every ride. This is more important than ever since I'm now really asking her to use her back. She hasn't not been sore at all the way she was over the summer since we started this, and she loves getting her daily carrot too!