Nice ride

Had a great time with the horses today. I won't bore you with all the ritual stuff I do with them, but I got Moon out and rode him in a somewhat dry paddock. What I was working on was his following his nose by doing the bending exercise. He is getting better. We even worked on a stop and backup with softness which he is picking up on. I did the cruising at the walk and trot with him. Also did several roll backs. They weren't perfect but they are a start. I also was able to get him into a canter a few times. The lesson was over way too soon. So Grand was very cooperative today. I got the shims adjusted and saddled him then moved him around to test things out. Then I got on him and he was just fine. We started with bending at the walk even working in some stops with softness and backups. Then we started to do some trotting. Something spooked him, I think it was my flopping the strings on his flanks and he started a to bucking but I was able to hold on to my night latch and snake my hand down to get a rein. I know he was just scared but I still kept him moving doing a lot of direction changes and acting like a drunk in the saddle. He did a little dust up again when I rubbed my leg up high on his flank so I just kept at it and kept him moving til he settled down. I didn't have to use a crop this time to keep him going until the end but I didn't bother to then. I also was able to get him into a canter a couple times so that was real progress. Toward the end of the ride I just walked him and worked on YH and stop and backup with softness and then started to ask for vertical softness while walking forward. He made some real progress there too.