Almost ready for the first ride...

The all knowing eye...

Tuesday: 10/14: Line driving for the first time. He did great!

Friday 10/17: Driving on long lines for the second time, he did worse than the first time! Part of this is that it was in the pasture instead of the arena. Its still an enclosed area, and pretty safe, but he's thinking about lunch afterwards and where his mare is, instead of having a covered arena on a Tuesday night when accustomed to be learning and working. Part of it was that I was asking for a whole lot more, and he was showing a little frustration.

Saturday 10/18: More line driving, for a very little amount of time.

Sunday 10/19: Better line driving, still clueless about going straight, and still a little sticky backing.

Monday 10/20: Totally neglected, I worked late and didn't even go out to see the guy.

Tuesday 10/21: Snubbed at class for the first time so this was with a new horse, but he did fine. So that's the last step before I get on him and have someone pony be around next Tuesday!

Wednesday: Neglected again...

Thursday 10/23: So he is line driving reasonably well; walk and trot, through cones, over logs, between poles, whoa and back. So he's at least got some steering, but we're still working on fine tuning it. He's a little extreme still; he tends to turn a full 90 degrees every time he's asked, or he gets stuck and stubborn and stands there pulling against the rein for 30 seconds. So weaving through the cones is helping him understand subtle movements. When we started today he was still very antsy about the whoa, we would walk in place and pull against the bit, then start backing up. By the end he had really gotten the idea. I had to stop him and walked up to him to give him a pat a couple of times before he got the hint that just standing there was exactly what I wanted. My round pen is currently a large square pen on totally uneven ground, so the goal this weekend is to get it set up so that I'll have a safe place to do the next couple of rides after I get on him Tuesday. It won't be perfectly level or good round pen footing yet, but at least it will be a small enclosed space free of trees! I've got my work cut out for me!

Friday 10/24: Still more line driving. Much better on whoa and stand quietly. Starting to transition between trot and walk really well, but steering is pretty wonky at the trot!