back to it

After a short break I got back to work yesterday with Chapiro, relaxing the neck. The reflex relaxation response when the tension releases in his neck leads to him licking and lowering his head which I'm hoping to be able to bring on cue from the ground or when ridden. Basically using the same principle as bitted flexions I'm trying to wing it in a headcollar! It's still very much a work in progress (I have discussed it here before) and it may just be another one of those blind alleys but both he and Moo seem to benefit from this type of work so I'm going to give it some serious consideration over winter. In the second video we are working on the in-hand trot, again trying to keep the neck/shoulders relaxed especially through the transitions. The small circles (I only do this work for a few minutes) also mean that I can easily keep the shoulder lightly 'in' as on this size of circle it would be impossible for him to keep uniformly bent around the circumference.
I might give the in-hand horsemanship a go on interdressage this month if I can up our game in time.