Over the last two weeks, I was left with taking care of Pacha by myself only. I decided to start some lungeing work with him, which had never be really done before. I followed Fillis' very good recommendations as for lungeging from his book 'Breaking and Riding'. We worked alone in the small covered arena. Pacha had a snaffle bridle and a halter. I had taken the reins off. He had also, of course, tendons boots.
The first time,I let him free as this was the only habit he had known before. He rolled over with great pleasure, then bolted, galloped, bucked, spooked and so on until he had enough. For some reason, I did not then clipthe lunge and decided to go directly to drive him with voice and driving whip only. To my surprise, he responded well and quickly understood 'pas, trot, galop' and back. I could also steady his pace up rather easily with simple and quiet 'whoas'. As his easy side is left hand, I rapidly noticed that when on the right hand, he tried to change hand by stopping in a corner and retstarting at the other hand. After a few sessions, a strong 'Non' was able to stop him doing so.
As for the whip, the simple view of which he was very uncomfortable with the first time, he made good progress over the days, and I can touch him with the hand tip (not yet the latch!)without problem.
As recommended by Fillis, I took care of not going to him when at halt, but instead inviting him to walk towards me. He begins to do this nicely, and enjoys fetching a pat on the neck in this way.
Each of these sessions lasted 15'. We had them everyday. I must say I am amazed how much good it had delivered already in terms of steadying him up in his strides, especially canter. I work this gait mostly on the right lead, more difficult, and he is able now to deliver several rounds without trying to escape in a corner.
I rode him yesterday and could verify these improvements in the saddle.
I was not very involved in ground work so far, but this has surely changed my mind.
I am planning to go deeper into this in the near future.
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