(Ground) Driving Mr. Blessi

Shannon, my dressage instructor is going to teach me how to drive.  Of course, she first needs to teach Blessi how to drive.  The above video was taken about five minutes into the lesson.  





Blessi was probaby started under saddle in Iceland via long lines.  I have often longed Blessi in ovals and serpentines and variations other than circles which helped.  Also the TTouch exercises helped with his understanding.  However, this was the first time to my knowledge that he was driven from behind with actual long lines.










However, Blessi also had to throw in his own unique approach to driving.  Dropping the longe whip--no reaction.  Tangling of reins--no problem. 

Bored--let's turn around and face the driver.  Really bored--let's just stop and ignore the longe whip--nobody is really going to hurt me with that thing.

And we really need to work on changing directions in a seamless way--but all in all a great start.