reviewing

Yesterday was a good day with the horses. I started with Robbie first. I really took it slow with him, but wanted to push the envelope and help him to progress. He wanted to keep moving so right from the start I had him move until he was willing to stand with me. I want him to be willing to be with me and be a partner, not a prisoner as I heard Parelli say once. He stays with me, but his is so reactionary in his mind that I have to be careful I don't push to far, but at the same time push enough to get him over his hard spots. So I went through the exercises and whenever he didn't give me what I was clearly asking for (for example, I am getting really strict about giving me two eyes) I really moved his feet either YH or backing up and then would ask again for the same thing. Another example is that I want him to stand relaxed as I throw the lead up over his head. I don't want his head high or his eyes wide. I want to be relaxed with this so I worked on it until his head relaxed and he had a soft eye. Then I went on to something else. I didn't work the saddle with him at all because I need to get this other stuff going good before that. Overall, he did good and is just moving along slower than I would like. But I want him relaxed and confident when it comes time for saddling and riding.
Darkstar did really well. I saddled him and went through the exercises refining them. I am getting the YH and YF really good. It was really my problem of positioning rather than his. And I got on and off several times. He was really relaxed with this. He is a bit jumpy but he will get over it. So it was a pretty good lesson for him.