Back to Work on Turn-Arounds–And Possibly Ping-Pong
Leo is home! Finally! He looked like he’d been in cowboy bootcamp all summer. He just looked really wore out and soooo happy to be home. He hadn’t seen green grass all summer and his little nose was sun burned. The best part was seeing him and his pasture mate Shadow say their hellos. Cuuuute!
I let him have a few days off to relax, and then I hopped back on. I got so frustrated today over turn-arounds. I’m just not getting it at all.
The exercise: When I’m practicing a turn-around, I’m walking a bigger circle, then I cut to the middle of the circle, turn around, and walk or trot out. I repeat that over and over until I hate myself for being so lame at it (and sometimes I stay up til 2 in the morning to blog about how lame I am at it).
How I ask: I bump with my legs to the center of the circle, then I take out the inside leg so he’ll turn.
The problem(s): I think I’m messing up with my hands and my body position.
Questions: Do you guys lean to the inside with your weight? Do you lean back? Do you look into the turn (twist your body in the direction of the turn, almost like you’re looking over your shoulder?) What about your hand position?
I’ve seen that hand position should be the inside rein higher than the outside rein, with hands pretty close together. But it seems to work better for me if I almost guide him with the inside rein, almost pulling him around.
The results I’m getting–how I know I’m messing up: Either I bunch him up so much that he starts that dreadful hopping around with his front end; or I give him too much slack and he walks out of it.
Sometime I feel like I was born to train horses. Other days I feel like I should quit and take up Ping-Pong. Today I felt like I needed to take up Ping-Pong. Ugh!
I’m so glad Leo is back though. I missed him bunches.
