Day 56

Today I had a good ride on both horses. I am really paying attention to whether or not they are relaxed in what we are doing. I went through the basic exercises and then saddled them. Then with Robbie I flexed him with the reins and YH and then moved him forward while I walked beside him as though I was in the saddle. Then I got on him. I didn't drive either one of them today. I just watched to see if they were really relaxed. I did the same thing with walking beside with Darkstar too.
Then I got on and asked Robbie to flex and he was giving me even vertical softness. I then asked him to move off. He still only moves in a circle, about 10' but that is ok, he started to get more resistant and I don't want him going forward if there is lateral resistance. Anyway I worked with him and started to get some YF from the saddle too. I rode about 20 minutes and we were done.
Star was about the same, only with him he is much more jumpy. While Robbie is real relaxed, Star seems to be always on edge. But I worked him from the ground doing some YO YO exercises too. He was real relaxed and under saddle he was mostly relaxed. I did a lot of flexing with him and he moved off and then YH. We did some 360s with him and he did fine. He doesn't like to take too many steps forward, but that is ok he is making progress with taking more steps. He got a little edgy a time or two, but I flexed him and calmed him down and then we went back at it. I also started working a little on YF after YH. I would say they both did well and I was mostly confident on their backs. Progress, progress, progress, baby steps. No giant leaps, but small steps of progress.