Outdoor

Last night I had another good ride.  I worked on a lot of the same things - transitions, transitions, transitions.  I've noticed that the key to getting Walker really moving out is to do a lot of transitions and changing directions.  Then he picks up the speed a bit because I'm asking him for a faster response time.  I will trot halfway around the arena, ask him to go straight to the walk, back up (to encourage him to use his hindquarters in the downward transition), and then immediately ask for a trot or canter from the halt.  Sometimes I go to a halt, get him to do a turn on the forehand towards the wall, and ask for an immediate departure.  It does a lot for getting his lazy mind to start working.

Because he's really panting these days, I only do these things for about 15 minutes and then I let him walk around the arena for a few minutes on a loose rein.  I've pretty much started breaking our rides up into 15 minutes at a time.  We may only ride for 30 - 60 minutes, but it's all done in 15 minute chunks to give him a chance to catch his breath.

The other thing I was doing was spiral-ins and leg yields.  So far I only ask for the leg yields at the walk because the other day when I put my leg on at the trot, he thought this meant canter and did a mediocre attempt of the leg yield at the canter.  While slightly impressive, I don't want to confuse him just yet.  He's trying to be light off the leg and so I can tell that when I put the leg back, he thought that's what I meant, despite all the other clues that said "to the side" instead of "forward".

Then, for the last 15 minutes of our ride, I got wild and crazy again and went back to the scary outdoor arena, although no one was around at the barn to supervise the insanity. I should be clear that Walker isn't afraid of the outdoor.  I'm afraid of the outdoor.  Walker just looks at that lack of fence and thinks, yeah, I can totally get out of work now.  Considering his propensity to bolt when there's an actual fence, I'm just waiting for the first day we tour the woods of the new barn unintentionally.  But I need to get over that thought process because thinking it is simply bound to make it happen.

Anyway, we first just walked around the outdoor since we were in the cool-off phase of our ride anyway.  Then I decided to jog for a little bit.  We didn't do too much jogging, nor an entire circle - more like bits and pieces of straight lines (interspersed with lots of fights in a circle).  I'm still proud.  And all the while that we were doing this, three deer were grazing in the paddock right beside us.  It was pretty cool.

Another picture taken by my mother.  Notice the
signs of the angry dragon: bright eyes, tail swished violently,
and mouth open, ready to breath fire.
I'm told that there are horses out there that actually like
to work.  They must be a rare breed of equus.