New Obession.

"o hay, i am yankee thee horse. i very cute. cute enuff to get foods. feed me some treet foods and i will luv you fore-evers. see? luk at mah cute tong? I steek it out fer treat foods."

[Disclaimer: This post is about to be epically extensive with several photos and explanations of thus. This is my last day before the clusterF of work-college-riding juggle begins and I may not be able to ride or post as often as I would like. Catch it....22.]

VIDEO STILLS!
Why didn't I think of this before? Instead of making someone suffer at the end of the camera that a) is crappy and doesn't take very good pictures and b) is very tempermental and won't zoom in or out well, I can just take video in small segments and then take video still from that! HOT damn I've done it. I am so smart, I mean no one has thought of this before me and I am intellectually superior than others :P

Anyways, this has proved to be a irreplaceable training tool. I used vid stills for Yankee free jumping the other day and today I took some from his lunging sesh and our workout. They can be grainy, but I am not looking to put them in a frame on the wall, merely to use as a training tool.
I got an amazing b-day present from my old (not in age :P) dressage instructor, Connie, to help me out with MY position in relation to Yankee's training. It is a book called "Centered Riding 2" which plays on a riders balance and how it affects the horse and how they move.
The first chapter was all about realizing your center/balance and reeeeally feeling where your body is on the horse. That's all I did today too (espechially since I haven't ridden in over 6 days). I felt exactly where my seatbones were and how much weight was on each. I felt the weight and placement of my feet in the stirrups. I was exceptionally conscious of where my head and hands were as well as if I was correctly aligned. I have an awful habit of pushing my feet out in front of me and sucking back in the hips. This was my defense against Yankee being a retard baby off the track. But now since he is grown and *perfect* I need to ditch this in a bad way. We worked on it :)

My barn slave, Brandon (and Mr. Goofins himself). He cleans stalls, tosses hay, sweeps aisles, dumps manure, moves jumps, feeds horses, measures supplements, takes countless videos/pics and grooms my horse!! He is awesome. You should get a Brandon, they are very helpful.

Yankee's AMAZING tail that I obsess over and make sure it is always lush & gorgeous. I bag it in the winter (sometimes summer if he is on day turnout) and apply cowboy magic/ wash it as much as possible. I wash it every 2 weeks in summer with human shampoo (less harsh & expensive) and apply cowboy magic every other day. I rarely brush it since that pulls out hairs. Just look at that tail :)

I tried a new technique today I have seen Cheryl use on her babies. After running the lunge line through his inner bit ring, I clipped it to his girth ring so that when his head is perpendicular with the ground, the line will be straight. It barely has an effect on his mouth when he is stretching long and low, since it is free to slide through the bit ring but gives him just enough incentive, along with the loose side reins, to be soft through his back. And look at the results! Stretching down and forward, stretch & impulsion evident in all 4 of his legs, freedom of shoulder, and ROUND back (look behind the saddle pad)

I like him to warm up long& low since it stretches out that topline and frees up his muscles everywhere. I think he likes it, and it is evident in the pictures. His ears are listening, his poll is soft and he is stretching forward (even in the canter!), his haunches/back legs are engaged, his shoulders are swinging, and his back is round. Yanks goes better to the left for obvious reasons (OTTB), so I rarely warm him up more than 10 min on this side.

OK so this pic is from when I asked him to "trot ON". This is what he gives me and holy beans is that nice! I wish we could get this amount of relaxation& impulsion, all in one package, in the saddle. He is not stretching forward or down but to me that is a-ok. Those legs are worthy of Totilas (ok maybe not thaaat much, but hey) and he remains relaxed through the back, actively engaged and on the bit with barely any contact. Look closely at the lunge line and side reins-slack!

Again! Same as before, slack reins all around and that front foot is miles in front of his nose. His haunches are lowered even. You can see his shoulder muscle ripple, and that back end is so active! Proud :)

He looks angry in this still shot but I promise he isn't. Since the vid still is grainy, his ears are just too pixalated and are missing, lol. All I can say about this pic is, what a rounded back you have my dear. All the better for building muscle! His back is so round I can almost see the saddle getting pushed up. Still relaxed too, just not as much impulsion as I would like, but I'll take a round back any day.

Same thing here as before in all the pics. I am super proud since this is his stiff direction on the lunge.

In my attempt to keep my hands in the straight line line-elbow-to-bit (SLETB), I have raised them 2 inches too high. Otherwise I think I look pretty ok. However, he is on light contact and actively walking. This was one of his better walks we have ever had, wish ya'll could see the video. I always wish his back was more round, but after a year or so off, he lacks the muscling to do it as much as he can without me adding weight. We will get there :)

nailed it in this picture, all around. Yankee looks fantastic. Round back (eeeee!), on the bit, actively swinging and pushing. I am perfectly SLETB, shoulders back, eyes up, and have a straight line from ear to elbow to hip to heel (EEHH). Textbook :)

Love his tail, lol. Oddly, he is stiffer this direction in the saddle, even though he is looser and more relaxed on the lunge the other way. Hard to see my position but I look a little off center. Could be my clothes, his gait, or that I am. He looks just as good as the previous pic.

Sadly, you can't see much of anything in this....blurry. But from what I can see, I look straight EEHH, and he looks active, relaxed and free flowing. We were doing a 20m. circle at the trot.

This is how he reacts to a reminder from the whip to stay engaged. Really picks up that inside hind, which is good, thats what I was going for. At the same time though, he looks angry. He does manage to stay on the bit & round over his back which is good. Typical Yankee wanting to get out of work and scoffing at being reminded to carry himself. I have stayed straight EEHH and bit to mouth & am not looking down at all! All the concentration is paying off!

Yay canter! Since this is coming off his 'up' stride, I look like I am leaning ahead, but really I am just going with the canter motion. I studied the videos and truly this is all it is. Yankee looks great, as he has been. Continously round, soft and active.

I think I will continue to have my barn slave, er, Brandon, my tape sessions for us as it allows in hopes of furthering our progress! Mine and his. Once again thanks to Connie for the book, it is already helping!

I is Bloggin', With Style!

Since I am stuck at home today and not allowed to go anywhere(doctors orders, sprained ankle), especially the barn, sadface, I will continue spreading the stylish blogger award! OnTheBit from A Horse and a Half blog ( http://onthebit.wordpress.com) nominated me and I feel it is my blogger duty to nominate 15 others. Ok, so I am a n00b when it comes to linking back to websites, so ya'll will have to bear with me on this one. If someone wants to tell me how to do it, I'd be much appreciative.

There are 4 things you have to do when nominated.....

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself

3. Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers

4. Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award!

*Ok so the linking back I will have a hard time with...but I did thank her by posting on her blog!

*Seven things people don't know about me..

1. I am a major bookworm!! I read anything and everything I can get my hands on (except textbooks-ha) and my favorite author of all time is Dean Koontz. Koontz writes mysteries and thrillers and I love every single one I have read so far. He has an obsession with Golden Retrievers, so there is one in almost every book he has written. I highly recommend reading at least one of his books. I also love the Harry Potter series, Dennis Lehane books, Flowers For Algernon, Lords Of Discipline, Racing in The Rain, Man O'WAr, etc. Reading is FUN!

2. I prefer animals over humans. Ok now, don't take offense to this, I just enjoy animals much more than people. They never talk back to you, judge you, argue, they offer unconditional love and mutual understanding. Animals are always there for you, when the humans you associate with stab you in the back, trample you down, mutilate your hearts, destroy self confidence, and leave you in the dust. In general, Humanity frustrates me. People obsess so much about things that don't matter! What really matters in life is friendship, family and love, not petty things and poeple are just too wrapped up in themselves to see what really counts. Being in college exposes me to too many people that live materialistic lives and care WAY too much about social standing and whatnot. its annoying. If I had to choose, I'd hang out with horse people, all day, every day :)

3. I am terrified of 3 things- thunderstorms, needles and failure. Like no joke peeps, I shiver in absolute terror when it thunderstorms and sometimes I bawl like a giant 20 year old baby. I usually end up clinging to a blanket and huddle on the couch, glued to the TV screen, watching for tornado warnings. Needles on the other hand, do make me turn into a baby-I cry at the sight of them and ball up in the fetal position. the fear of failure only keeps me up at night and brings on panic attacks when I think about it too long, so I try not to. I'm messed up I know.

4. I was born without a sense of smell. Tis true! No one believes me when I first tell them and I swear, one of two things are asked when I say this, A. "So if I fart in your face you couldn't smell it?" and B. "Can I fart in your face?". Not joking. Sometimes even girls say this to me! UGH! But yes, I take it as a curse and a blessing. I wish I could smell cookies and steak but I am thankful I cannot smell bad things like skunks, or dead things, or...farts.

5. I hate college. I never wanted to even go to college...but I did it to please my parents and....well that's it I guess. I keep telling myself I did it 'as a back up plan' but in reality I will NEVER EVER sit in an office all day and be someone's little biotch. NO thank you! I would rather work minimum wage, or be someone's barn hand than do that. I hate how college's have turned into business's-they take your money at every opportunity, rape you even on admission fees and books, say they care about your success but when something goes wrong, like a professor intentionally failing the entire 500 student class they turn their heads and carry on their merry way, etc etc etc.
which leads me to number 6...

6. I aspire to not only compete in Rolex, but to become a professional trainer. So many people have this dream, but I think I have one thing those people don't have (besides $$), excessive determination. As soon as I am done with college (ONE year!!) I am dippin' out to go do whatever I have to to get rides and further my experience as an eventer. I will drop everything to be a working student, I will go hungry before my horse does, I will sell everything I own (besides trailer, horse and tack), I will work till I drop dead tired, I will ride till my legs turn to jello, I will show until my bank account suffers. I will do anything to get there. This probably seems very desperate to some of you but I am SICK of being stuck at the lower levels, I WANT with all of my being to go four star, hell even two star. I know I have the talent, I just need fine tuning. I don't have money, so I need sponsors and people to give me rides. I know a few professionals who have done it that come from the same background as me, but most come from money and horsey parents. But it's ok, it's the journey to get there, right? Right :)

7. I have a major guilty pleasure that goes against everything I stand for....I love trash TV. What? Who said that? Not me *looks around sheepishly*. I love the shows like Kendra, Keeping up With the Kardashians, Jersey Shore, Teen Mom, 16 and Preganant, etc. OH THE HORROR. I cannot believe I like to watch these shows when I HATE the kind of people that are in them! The backstabbing, selfish, materialistic people (that I talked about in #2) that exist in Hollywood. Sweet baby Jesus, WHY? I'm not all bad though, I love Dexter, True Blood, Weeds, CSI, Dirty Jobs, Spongebob (lol), anything on Animal Planet...Please don't judge me for being so hypocritical! I think I like watching the beautiful trainwrecks on TV because I like to be reminded of how not to act? Maybe?

Ok the 15 blogs that are *new* to me. *blogs are ones I have been reading for less than a year but are not new to me. New meaning within the past month..

1. Blah Blah Blog (sineadchaplin.blogspot.com)
2. Boots & Saddles (bootsandsaddles4mel.blogspot.com)
3. Chesnut Mare Syndrome (chesnutmaresyndrome.blogspot.com)
4. Cross Country Dreamin' (crosscountrydreamin.blogspot.com)
5. *Dressage Pony (dressagepony.blogspot.com)
6. G is For Greta (gretathehorse.blogspot.com)
7. *Grey Brook Eventing (greybrookeventing.blogspot.com)
8. Saga Chronicles (saga-chronicles.blogspot.com)
9. Second Start Sporthorses (secondstarthorse.blogspot.com)
10. Team Taco! (teamtaco3d.blogspot.com)
11. The Many Misadventures (themanymisadventures.blogspot.com)
12. Wet Reins (albigears.blogspot.com)
13. Sweet Horses Breath (sweethorsesbreath.blogspot.com)
14. I is Roxie (rockinroxie.blogspot.com)
15. *Jumping Percheron (jumping-percheron.blogspot.com)

So there we are everyone! Go blog in style!

I Was Bad, But My Horse Was Good

I've been bad...I left my "bedrest" and went to the barn today...without crutches. Oh snap. But I wore my brace I swear! It was my birthday today, so I couldn't just stay inside and not see my boy. He, on the other hand was an angel. With the help of Brandon (since I cannot lift or carry anything) we set up a jump chute and free jumped him today.

He was havin some real fun today!

This is a video of Yank's jump 4ft 6, sorry its so shaky! I think it is 4ft6, but I stood next to it and I'm pretty sure it might be 5ft actually. We didnt measure but I am 5ft9 and it came up past my chest...




These next few pics are video stills, which is why they are so grainy, but you can still see how nicely he was jumping today!


If only he'd jump this well under saddle!


4ft 6...So proud, I wanted to push him more, but he hasn't jumped in a while and after a few runs he got a bit tired.



Next to the jump he jumped today! See, past my chest and I'm 5'9". I was on the phone, lol

The Almost Travesty

Yesterday, the day started off pretty exceptional. I slept in, then went to the barn to school yanks and he was angel. It was still really cold outside, so I didn't ride outside. In fact I didn't ride at all, just did a bit of groundwork and trick training to switch it up.

Yankee did very well in hand. I started with long lining, working on straightness and perfection of cues. I have trained him to 'walk on' with a tap to his rump on top, to 'trot on' the same way and to 'whoa' with little bumps on the reins. He is supposed to stand perfectly still until I say otherwise and he usually does. He is also ground tie trained, which you can see in the video. To come down from a gait I say "whoa____", like if he is trotting I say "whoa walk". To move up I say "Aaaaaand___". Within gaits I say "eeeeeasy" to slow and "____ON" to increase action. Consistency is key and Yanks has it down, since I use the same voice commands when lunging. Long lining yesterday I tried doing renver and traver using the whip as my leg and he sort of got it, but really all it was doing (esp to the left) was making his neck crooked, and we don't want that!

After long lining I did a little more piaffe training and he is really picking it up! Literally! I am using alternating cues for his back legs (tapping L, R, L ,R) and he is doing the front leg work himself. The video is pretty good, do not mind my hobo outfit and pink boots, teee hee! Yanks is REALLY starting to get the idea of what I mean when I say "easy", he sets back and the movement goes UP. After the movement I ask him to "trot ON" more to let him know there is a difference and I am positive he gets it. Don't you just love his ground tying skills too? :)

This is where the day gets sketch-ma-getch and almost tragic.

After his training shesh, I like to clicker train with trick work and yesterday I was working on his bow. He gets that he is supposed to stretch his front legs out, but he still isnt getting that to balance correctly, he needs to back his back legs up a bit too. To help with this, I ask him to almost set out like a standardbred and then bow. I ask him to bow with one leg set back, and I still have to command him to do so by touching it and holding it up a bit while he brings his head down and back and bows. We do this ALL the time and I didn't think twice about it today.

I had asked a few times for it and of course, he performed beautifully as always. I am trying to 'wean' him off me holding his leg so that eventually he can bring it back himself and so every time I ask I hold it less and less and he does it himself more and more.

The 4th time I asked it was all going swimmingly....and then right as he brought his head back and down I saw his front stabilizing leg buckle and I thought " Oh Shiiiit"....

Oh shit indeed.

When his leg buckled, his left shoulder bumped me and since I was half crouching (I had just set his kneeling leg), I toppled over and landed sprawled on my back and all I saw was his MASSIVE body falling....

I was terrified. I braced for the impact and saw Yankee scrambling above me and all I could think about was my impending death. All these thoughts raced through my head in about a split second, I was gonna get crushed and die, I was gonna be a veggie for the rest of my life, what will happen to yankee when I die, how did this happen, why am I so stupid to try to teach a horse to bow...bla bla bla.

Then, miraculously, his body was no longer falling, in fact it was rising away from me..."I'm saved! I'm Aliiiiive! How did this happ-OOOOWWWWW?!" What the-"

In his effort to not fall on me, Yankee ended up crunching down on my right ankle with his hind foot when he rebalanced himself. Thank sweet Jesus that he didn't fall on me and he doesn't have hind shoes right now, but oh crap now my ankle is broken...

Yankee was very worried about me and I could see in his eyes he was sorry, I told him what an amazing horsey he is for saving me like that. I KNOW he tried his best not to fall on me and in his effort, accidentally stepped on my ankle. I leaned on him for support while walking him back to the crossties and he stood perfectly still while I brushed him and put on his blanket (which is really hard to do on one foot) and led him back to his paddock and stall.

So there I was, thinking my ankle was broken and I was scared, hurting, sad and angry at myself since it was all my fault. I drove home with my left foot (cried the whole way), called off work for that day and waited for Brandon to get home to take me to the ER for x-rays.

3 hours and xrays and CT scans later I find out its not broken (YIPPEE) but just a bad sprain and deep bruising. I don't really understand how since it hurts like a mother trucker but the doc gave me percocet and ordered me to 5 days of inactivty, a brace and crutches. 5-6 weeks for 100% heal, but hey I am NOT complaining! I could have actually broken it, or worse, died!

I am very grateful that it is only a sprain since SOOO much could have been ruined (not being able to work to earm income, have a hard time getting to classes, no riding this season, etc etc) and I am VERY thankful for my wonderful horsey :)

Hobbies, Part I

This will be a new series thing I will do on days I don't get to ride, or think I won't be able to. It's 2 degrees today with some viscous wind and I have to feed today (starting around 2:30 I will do stalls, and feed about 3:15 so I can hopefully get to work at 4pm, then I work till 11:30pm) and work, so I really doubt I will be hopping on. Both of us don't usually enjoy rides when it is this cold.

So, let the hobbying begin!

I have always drawn, for as long as I could remember, but just recently started taking "real" art classes for my major in college. it has been useful, but sometimes I feel it throws me off my natural groove. Horses are my favorite subject, of course, but I love drawing any animal. People and still life's are my least favorite but I have to for class.
Most of my drawings are done freehand, not looking at models or pictures and my favorite medium is graphite and charcoal.


This is a freehand I did while chillen around the house last year sometime. Most of my horse drawings never even reach completion, but those that do, I put up on my FB page. This is one of my favorites! This one is by no means a project and it only took me about half an hour.

This was done a few years ago, shortly after I adopted Yankee. He was a racehorse, so I wanted to sketch one! This didnt take any time at all, maybe 15 min. Funny how the ones I sketch out turn out to be better than ones I really concentrate on!

This is a new technique I tried for intermediate drawing II. The project was a silent story, no words, just pictures. I fabricated a life story about a fictional horse named Fraenze Datcha en Azzura, a german grand prix showjumping horse. The story began at her birth, showed her story of succes's and failures, winning world champ and later her injury that was career ending and led to her broodmare status. I had to vary mediums, styles, viewpoints and sizing as well as colors. It ended up being 11 panels (boards) with 4 pictures per board. It took me about a week to do and I'd say 30 min per picture....so 22 hours total!!
This was one of my favorite pictures, this was pen and colored charcoal. I tried to make it very simplistic with a splash of color.


This is another part of Azzura's story, right after they gained professional, national status. Done in pen and colored charcoal.

This is a whole panel from Azzura's story, winning her first national show. I love the angles I chose for the jumping part! The hands and hooves were supposed to symbolize a partnership and those were done in all pen. the other two panels were pen and colored charcoal.

I don't just draw horses, here is one of the model drawings we did in class. Each pose was 30 min long, all charcoal, and I turned this is for a grade, got an A :)

The skeleton project...gah this was god awful. It's life sized, and in all charcoal. I had to draw this standing up and take precise measurements from the model and try to recreate it on paper. This was not a fun project at all but I am proud how it turned out. It took 10 hours total and was my midterm for intermediate drawing II. Got an A :)

This was my midterm for intermediate drawing I and is a drawing of a futuristic city. It is amassive drawing, I can't remember the measurements but extend your arm out and thats about how long it is, just about as tall too. the little ball things are "cars" and people travel by tubes. We had to vary viewpoint and technique and I got an A :)

I have hundreds of more pictures but I didn't want to bore ya'll! This is just a taste of what I do on my freetime and for class. Hope you enjoyed !

Catch 22?

As you can see this was Yankee today schooling a few steps of piaffe in passage movement. I know this is nothing special and it's not perfect but this video if for my records. Yankee gets a few steps in piaffe/passage. I am training him for piaffe but since he is moving forward its technically a passage even though the upward movement in the front is not spectacular by any means. I am mostly working on lowering his quarters, slowing the trot and lifting the back legs. I am hoping the rest will fall into place with practice.
After that I did a few min of long lining, which was fun :) Brandon even tried it too, but since he only has 3 fingers on one hand he was having a hard time holding the whip and reins and accidentally bumped Yankee numerous times on the bum with the whip and freaked him out. Ooops, won't be trying that again.
.

Today's ride was pretty dismal, and I'm attributing it to 2 days off, the bumping Brandon did and the 'blizzard of death' that descended upon us this afternoon. It dumped (so far) 6 inches in about 3 hours and Lord knows Missouri and it's drivers are not capable of handling such snow (supposed to keep snowing overnight). We had to deal with this...


....on the way to the barn. Along with other drivers it took about 45 min. to go 10 miles. In 10 minutes time I saw 5 groups of emergency vehicles going separate ways to help wrecked people. On one road alone I saw 5 vehicles run off into ditches and a bus, and this was when only 3 inches were on the ground. Stoopid.

Yankee was very uppity today and tense and some of it may relate to anxiety of drilling movements and the above reasons. I am trying to vary our rides but there is only so much I can do in winter. I can't jump alone (barn rule) and when its 2 degrees and windy, riding is unbearable, I don't care who y'ar. Tomorrow I will switch it up a bit if the wind dies down and go out for a hack in the snow, but if it's too cold I'll just give him another day off.

Today I warmed up with the piaffe school, unmounted, then did basic WTC circles and extensions in-gait, mounted. I wasn't planning on doing anything extensive and I just wanted to touch up our side passes and shoulder in's before working on our trot extension, but he was having none of that. I know some of it was my fault too, I was freezing and a little stressed from the hectic day and I know I was tense too but he was really throwing a fit. Soooo I reverted to just easy WTC circles and down the long sides but even that simple stuff he tensed at, was behind my leg, above the bit and lagging. It was SO frustrating. I resorted to trotting on loose rein in hopes to stretch his back and loosen. It worked, barely, but I did get some good trotting in after the stretch.



Mostly though today was a fail. I work tomorrow too, 8 hour shift so I dunno if I will even want to ride beforehand for fear of being tired before I even go in to work...how sad of me to say that. Work and riding is SUCH a catch 22. I work so I can ride (pay board, equipment, shows, vetting, farrier...) but if I try to ride before/after work I am tired and either can't ride or work. Seems like its one or the other. My life seems like a huge catch 22. Everything that my life is I can relate to the catch 22 theory...work, school, exercise, riding, art...etc etc.

3 Days Time

So this video was from 3 days ago, but in those 3 days, I've been able to ride Yankee everyday and had quite some up and downs! Wednesday I had the day off so I took a good while to school some dressage and take some videos. Unfortunately I was a little hasty and took the videos in the beginning of our ride when he was still his fresh, so they weren't very good and he wasn't as relaxed as later in the ride. We were working on flying changes and side passes at the trot again, which went ok, just not solid yet. he gets the idea, but gets a little tense. The video above is just some trot and canter work, but its some pretttty good schooling gaits.

As usual I've been schooling with balance and relaxation for myself and it really seems to be transmitting to him when we school seriously. With Yankee, a strong outside rein with a strong outside leg and soft inside leg just behind the girth while half halting brings him together like Totilas :) So Wednesday, ok day.

Thursday I didn't want to do too much since we had been schooling really hard core so I hopped on bareback with the intent to go for a loooong RELAXING trail ride. Raquel was in the arena working Actress (Cheryl's Grand Prix [retired] broodmare that she is leasing) so I joined her to watch a bit. Actress is, the shit! I watched her do some lengthenings and was amazed. I told Yankee to watch the master and to learn by example...I'm pretty sure he scoffed at my attempt to show him what a real dressage horse looked like because he purposely looked away, lol. After watching Actress, I took Yanks out on the trail behind the jump course and he was....AWFUL. I cannot even explain to you how terrible! It's like he was trying to kill me! I've ridden him MANY times bareback, even when he was 4, and he had never been this horrid. His main arsenal was bucks but he didn't leave out shying at pointless nothings or rearing like pegasus. The bucks were espechially fierce-at one point in a bucking fit of his I literally was hanging on for dear life by his mane. My bum came off his back a good 6 inches and of course when I slammed back on his back he bucked even harder. It was a viscous cycle. Thursday, not so good.

Which brings me to today. On the flip side, he was an angel today. I began with long lining which transformed into asking for passage steps...which he did..WITH GUSTO! As with the flying changes, the steps happened by accident almost. I have been working with him on the flat (and not moving) with the steps of passage, the very basics-touch the whip to a leg, he lifts, and I reward. While trotting on the long lines today I told him to whoa and tapped his back legs and BAM, he collected up, sat down and did two steps of passage. I was stunned! So I asked again and got four steps! Its still in the baby stages and I don't think I will go too far with this since I will never have to do passage, but its still cool to know! After that I hopped on to ask for some simple stuff since we spent about 20 min on the long line extremely collected. Did a few side passes brilliantly and one flying change. Overall, friday good :)