Domino 14

He bucked!
Yeah, not at first but at the end when I wanted to quit him. Here is how it went. I went out to put halter on him. He hardly moved off at all, so he came to me pretty soon. We got the saddle in place and I moved him around on the lunge wanting to have him arc his body on the circle. He has yet to do that lateral softness yet. We did probably 8 or 10 circles each direction then I put the bit on him and got on and moved him around doing the same thing but he didn't really want to move so I took him out in the road. There we worked on lateral flexion at the walk doing lots of circles in the road and going up and down the road in front of my place. Then I trotted him and walked him and just worked on transitions for a while. I have yet to have him in a good canter. Anyway, we worked on various exercises trying to get the lateral softness I want, and he is doing pretty good now then I started to desensitize him to various noises, feeling the leather saddle strings on his side and flank, me slapping my chaps. Well he would just take off at this so I decided to take him in the rd pen and try it so I could just let him go without having to pull too much on the rein. Anyway when we got in there and I got back on, we walked off and I slapped my chaps. Thats when he tried to buck. He did put his butt in the air, but I just kept him moving and wouldn't let him get his head down, I kept it bent a little and kept slapping and such. Then he just settled down and kept moving. He doesn't like to go to the left and stay on the rail so I have to work on that a lot more. All in all, he has made some progress. We got down the road farther than we have yet. I am staying off my hands unless I have to use them to direct him. He is getting softer laterally and is starting to get a backup with my seat and legs and a little bit of hand. Can't wait to ride him tomorrow, rain or shine and see what he does and where we can get too.
I want to make too much progress too fast, this is only probably his 9 or 10th ride so I have to keep that in mind.