How the New Trainer is Working Out

The new trainer, let’s call her LM, is working out well so far.  I’ve had one lesson in-hand with her horse and two hauling Cruise in.  Both of the lessons with Cruise were in-hand, with the first mostly being about refining the flexions and in-hand work, and the second on lunging the Legerete way.  LM asked me at today’s lesson if Cruise and I would be willing to be her student exam ride for Phillippe Karl’s School of Legerete, which is kind of cool.  See an example HERE.

I’ve actually been using this student exam ride as a template for my work with Cruise, so I am mega excited to go through each phase, step by step, and add a lot of polish.  The plan is to haul in weekly, weather permitting, through the winter.  I really like LM’s philosophy of polishing up the flexions, in-hand work, and lunging before we move on to riding in a lesson.  I’m still riding him at home and he’s going really well, so no complaints here!

My homework right now is to get him responsive to my energy on line from a distance without stepping closer for reinforcement.  He likes to be on top of me for comfort, he likes to blow through my whoa a bit, and I like to use my body instead of my energy, so we are definitely challenged.  The flexions and in-hand are going well though and I love how he settles down within five minutes at LM’s place.  All that hauling out and riding with another horse this Fall definitely made a difference in his attitude when going someplace new.