The Mustang Diaries: Kai-Ju Day 102

After battling rain and snow for a few days and the arrival of new residents, I got ride 6 completed with Kai last night, marking his 102nd day with us!

As usual, we started with the fundamental groundwork suite before moving into the riding portion of the lesson.

Kai's groundwork session

The riding session went well, even though I came off. Does it count as falling off if you land on your feet? Asking for a friend...

I did fall off him shortly after starting the ride. He reacted to me moving around in the saddle and making noise, and I couldn't shut him down in time. I bailed and landed on my feet at least! After reviewing the footage, I was not thrilled to see that he almost took out one of my kidneys with a kick that somehow didn't land. I got right back on and we restarted the riding lesson

Epic landing! Not so epic kick attempt!

For this ride (#6), we completed the session without using a ground guide, and I gave all directions and cues from the saddle. I was very pleased with how supple he is becoming on the hackamore pressure, as that has not been his strong suit since we started riding. We worked on moving around in the saddle, turns, 1-rein stops, and making him responsible for holding gaits until he's given direction to change them. This ride was the first one where I put him at a canter without someone helping on the ground. He was pretty upset about the news that a rider could make him do that, and he let me know how he felt every time I transitioned him to a canter by bucking and kicking out in protest. We finished off the ride on a nice long rein and with great left and right flexes