2023 FEB 11 Stevis Man

It’s worth mentioning at this point that I haven’t been lunging Stevie every day. In between lunge sessions, he hacks around the farm. It’s very difficult to video this, so we haven’t.
After several sessions at the trot. Stevie begins to develop the ability to relax and balance himself through shifting his weight back to toward the haunches rather than speeding up. This is in part because he is not as excited by the prospect of trotting and part because the circle is a suppling exercise and in his effort to stay upright, Stevie has stepped further under himself with his inside hind. He is just in the beginning of stretching his topline. You can see throughout the video, he relaxes, then stretches down and forward. I am pulling his head in to get him to let go in his poll. Racehorses brace their entire bodies. This makes them faster. Think of throwing a spear through the air as opposed to throwing a rope through the air. The rigid spear will travel much further than the rope. We need Stevie to let go of his body and relax so he can use his back to carry us and to find balance on these small 20 meter circles. As I get him to let go in his poll, he begins to let go in his body as the circle encourages him to step further under.
Observe the bounce and looseness that comes in his body as he lets go and relaxes, and uses his back.
It is more difficult for Stevie to go to the right and I understand that so I don’t expect as much. I don’t worry about it because it will come. I will give Stevie the time he needs to physically develop.
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