Domino 24

This was the best yet. When I went in to get him he stood without a problem and faced me. I saddle him and worked on the components, backup, leg yield, shoulders, disengaging, side pass, c pattern exercise. All done very well and smoothly. I then worked on rd pen/ without fence (at liberty or freedom) he did the best yet. He stayed on the circle and moved into transitions nicely. He carried his head low and for the first time carried his head to the inside so I rewarded him by letting him stop. His transitions to walk, trot and canter were good and the downward ones were too. He did good both directions. He faced up each time I asked him too. I can see a change in his attitude today. Then I rode him and my goal was to get him to stay on the circle instead of fading over to the barn like he has been and he stayed soft and on the circle. He stopped with my seat a few times and without much if any rein aid. The transition to trot and back to walk was good and he stopped with my seat from a trot for the first time. He did that a couple times from both directions. His owner was watching the whole time. I then wanted to get a good canter out of him at least 3 or 4 good strides. He gave them too me so I let him stop. Then I showed Lou, his owner some exercises I want him to learn so he can keep up with Domino. Downward pressure; lateral flexion and backup. Monday we will work some more and hopefully he will ride Jake while I ride Domino out on the road. We will see what happens. I have six more rides and session with him before he goes home.
I took the kids for a ride on Jake this morning too. We spotted a wild turkey and that was all. But htey had a good ride. Jake moves a little fast but he did well. The main thing is we were safe. I even put Madi on Domino bareback while I led him around. She reminds me of her momma. She got on Mandy a horse I had just gotten and told her to stay off of until I had time to work with her. Well, before I had gotten home, Angie had already been on her riding around. Madi begged to sit on Domino and thought it would be neat to walk around on him. So I put her on him and walked him around. She did fall off though, bareback is not very stable. Domino didn't do anything and she wasn't afraid and wanted to get back on so she did and I walked her around a bit more. Then we saddle Jake and worked Jake up to the back of the truck. He didn't like it so I had some training to do with him. I had her walk around in the bed of my truck and make noise while I rode Jake back and forth and let him rest at the tail gate. After several times of him resting relaxed, I asked him to get close enough to the truck so Madi could connect with me and get on. Sure enough she did and we rode off. It worked good. Anyway the kids are home and I am waiting for Sharon to get home so we can do something this evening.
Gotta love it.