Day 9

He went to work with me again today. I started out in the pen where he did real good and relaxed. I only did a few exercises with him as I wanted to take him to the back field. So we left and backed all the way down the trail. We had a few stops cause he just needed to look at what he was backing into. Then when we got to the field I saddled him up and went through all the exercises, using obstacles like logs, etc. We walked down the power line just kind of looping through several exercises and did them on the hill with me up top and he down below and vice versa. We got to the big water hole, which was ideal. I ran along the top as he ran through the watertrough like pond. Then had him jumping up the edge and then back down the edge. I thought I was at CA's ranch in Texas with his big water obstacle the horses go through. I didn't pay anything to go there. Then we worked our way back. That entire time took an hour. He wasn't done yet. Oh no! No it was riding time. So I put the bridle on him, flexed him several times and then got on. I flexed him some more. He started to move off a few times, but I gather that before long he is going to want to stand when he gets a chance. Then we walked a few strides and the trotting/cruising lesson began. We went around 3x in each direction. He hasn't got that idea of just going straight and follow the path. But his trot was nice and relaxed. I got him to canter a few times, but really wanted to work on him following his nose so we did the circle ess exercise a bunch at the trot. Then we worked on bending exercises at walk and trot. I also worked on touch and rub, and moving his hindquarters over and shoulders. He is real dull in both spots so he gets spurs tomorrow in order to just give him a gentle nudge. He knows what to do, but is real slow about doing it in his own time. I want to up that response time exponentially. Of course, if I am not careful he might respond too much. So it will be tested on the ground, then gently under saddle. My guess is it will go well. He doesn't seem to spook at many things at all either which is real good. He does ok on one rein stops, he just needs to be softer laterally. He backs ok and gets verticalls soft real easy. He just has to learn to hold it longer. So I would say he knows all 27 exercises of the foundation level and some more from the intermediate level. Now these are by no means all A+ grades, but they can be improved on. And that is where we will go. Oh, and by the way, no bucking as of yet.