Yay! Gypsy learned to bend!

Another beautiful day, but there are thunder showers in the forecast, so I figured I should get out with Gypsy early and work late instead of the other way around.

It turns out that getting your horse to bend (with feet still), with no opposition reflex is one of the tasks for the Level 1 assessment. So back to trying to get Gypsy to bend.

Once she was caught, groomed and saddled, I started asking for the bend from the ground first. We didn't get much more of a bend than last week (see blog titled lateral flexion), and again, as soon as I released, she would straighten, so I never seemed to be able to get any MORE of a bend. A few times she drifted in circles and I drifted with her, holding the pressure on the line until she turned her head. After many attempts with making no further progress, I started wondering if maybe she's not comfortable bending (maybe that's why she straightens right away once I release)? Maybe she's got some pain or something?

Then I thought I'd try a suggestion a friend made and offer her a treat when she tries to bend. Not as a bribe, but as a reward for trying. Well as soon as I put the treats in my pocket (she knew what was going on), she practically folded herself in half to reach them! So she CAN bend after all! But I didn't give any to her at first ... I rubbed/blocked her head until she straightened, then started asking for the bend again: "trombone" stroke on the line, then add pressure. She started to bend, I released, then added a bit of pressure again before she straightened and she gave me a bit more bend, I released, and then rubbed and gave her a treat. I repeated this whole thing until I was getting a nice bend on both sides both with and without the treats! Yay!! And she didn't move her feet!!

So then I mounted up (3x on each side and she didn't move once! Double-Yay!), and started asking for the bend from the saddle. It worked!! She did it!! both sides!! (see pictures). Lots of love, rubbing and treats. She's such a star. Never once did she move her feet while I was in the saddle until I asked her to.

So then I just took her down the road for a short ride and practiced swinging the rope back and forth over her head and steering her without the help of a fence! What I learned was when I leave her alone she goes straight (for the most part), and only turns when I pick up the lead. And she does this with very little pressure at all.

On the way back I closed my eyes and just let my body move in sync with hers. What an amazing feeling. I could easily feel what feet were moving where - way better than with my eyes open! She wandered a little bit, got curious about one of the driveways we passed and stopped to check it out. I let her check it out (I was in no hurry) and then I let her graze a bit in the ditch before asking for a trot the rest of the way home. An awesome day!