Filming Filming, Filming, and KNEELING!

Short blog tonight, but I felt like I should probably update since I've been mystery woman all fall, and am in danger of keeping it up.

Yesterday and today (and part of tomorrow for that matter), I've spent the majority of my time filming one of my student's L1 assessment. It's gone almost flawlessly, save for a few humorous bobbles in the Squeeze game, and follow the rail, and a great "finger freezing" episode toward the end of the saddling.

I'm now in the process of rough-cutting the video together (fancy stuff comes tomorrow, after we finish the pushing passenger lesson) and I'm thoroughly enjoying something that I KNOW what should look like, as opposed to my "highlight" videos, which I really never have a plan for.

Anyway, the final part of this would have to do with Prin :) I've been playing with all sorts of fun stuff this summer/fall/ and now into winter, and one of them is the bow/lie down task. Farrah has always emphasized the importance of breaking everything down into tiny little bits and getting each component perfect, so that they all come together flawlessly into the task. I understand this, of course, but it is only human of me to go "C'mon, can't you just LIE DOWN?!" Which is EXACTLY why it's been an epic failure so far.

I noticed today, as I was playing with Prin's bow (she's getting REALLY good at that) that if she is left to her own devices with her legs, she'll actually put a knee down on her own without my asking. I played around with different degrees of weight and balance on her, and realized that she's actually far more confident if I just pick her foot up for her, then let it go. Two times trying this, and Prin swept low into a MAGNIFICENT bow, and then she turned, looked at me, and put her other knee down, and knelt, much like I've seen Farrah do with Caesar on multiple occasions. I gave her about a cookie, rubbed her a BUNCH, and then ASKED her to get up...I'm pretty sure she'dve gone all the way down for me, had I asked, but I wanted her to feel safe and confident around me so that she'd be confident in my asking her to do it again some time. So...YAY! Progress!

I'm learning every day just how important being particular about the little pieces is. I'm SO glad I spent time getting her shoulders loose, getting her to stretch her topline, getting her to Spanish walk and park out. It's starting to come together, and I'm REALLY excited for the progress.

And on that note, I'm off for bed. It's COLD tonight! I'm not ready for winter yet!!