Bridleless Practice

Full size video here on youtube.

Last weekend, Pam came out and taped Paisano and I. It was meant to be a basaeline sort of video to record where he is at in his development and training. I rode him with a bridle first, then tried this. I don’t think that I ever rode him bridleless when he was a stallion. That makes this maybe our third or forth try. The previous times were in the round pen at Tired Dog Ranch, so a much smaller and more contained space. I was very happy with how he did. There were a few times where I had to put the rope up near his throatlatch to turn him and he really wanted to go hang out in the sunny far corner. Needless to say, those were outtakes.

He was good on basic walk, trot, canter, turn and stop cues. We have to work more on things like turn on the forehand and haunches and leg yield. Those are a bit harder to do without rein cues. I didn’t get more than a couple of steps before he moved forward. That can come with time. It’s a bit harder when there are no reins to restrict forward movement. In retrospect, I should have started this against the wall. Another step will be riding with another horse in the arena.

Watching the video, I realized that some of his apparent resistances may have been due to the fact that he had fly bites right where the rope crosses his chest. Pressure probably felt good! No wonder he leaned into it a few times, instead of backing off. I might post another clip of scratching him afterwards. It’s pretty cute. Pam pointed out that he was so relaxed that his lower lip was flapping the entire time.

Two of my favorite stills from the video…

The music is Corazon by Mirabai Ceiba, available from Spirit Voyage

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