The last two weeks Veltin has made super great progress! We've been able to spend more time riding as he has made significant progress mentally and emotionally. Right now each session starts with a brief touch on his ground work then we get to riding. We are still needing to work on that piece of GW in the beginning as he has some strong previous associations that are typical of horses that have been lunged and allowed to 'play' on the lunge line. Basically he gets a bit tight in anticipation of what may come next (his thought, lungeing)- yet we redirect that to body control on the ground releasing that tension. It really sets him up for a really solid ride and each week it is a little less GW in the beginnings.
Under saddle we are really working on developing him using himself better through his hind end, maintaining softness through the head/neck & top line as well as following his nose better.
We've bumped his breakfast and dinner up a bit to help support him as we really work to develop his strength.
Another big area that I am focused on helping his become better about is his social anxiety which really comes from his inner confidence. I've helped quite a few horses with pretty intense cases of social anxiety over the years and he is up there with those horses in terms of severity. He's absolutely improved on this element because it is at the forefront of our approach to helping him be the very best he can be. He is a dang cool horse with tons of potential and ability. These types of situations can take quite a few months to really move past and it takes consistency and diligence. As this improves nearly every aspect of his education will improve because internally he will be blossoming as more confident in himself. So we'll get him as best we can on this particular aspect of his development mentally and emotionally, then when it comes time for him to head home we'll be sure there is a strategic plan to help him continue progressing!
Maredith and I will be setting down on Sunday to coordinate our schedules so she can take some video of me riding him and I'll post that with his next update for you!
Oh but I do have a video of Veltin and the cows I'll share with you. They moved fields so he sees them every day now. First day he was wary but now he just checks them out and keeps on moving. Great progress there 😃
-Colton
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