Thurday's Ride!

Wow I am amazed I got to ride again:) I am really liking this spring weather!!
Well anyway Navajo seemed a bit lazy when we first started out so I figured we would just work a bit on moving his hindquarters, backing, stopping and maybe some working on going forward. It all went pretty well. First we moved his hindquarters a few times. That is going to need pretty much work but we will get there:) I also got him to back really really well. I mean really well because I asked for him to back and he backed pretty fast. Also while backing I got him to move his hindquarter a few times. I was really impressed. Since he did really well with the backing and moving his hindquarters I figured it was time to do some trotting. Trotting went ok but he didn't want to stop so well. That didn't make me so happy so I was like ok we will work on stopping. That didn't make him happy one bit :D Well so I kept trotting. He got tired of just trotting and stopping I guess or just figured he was ready to go home (I am working on riding longer this summer) and so he took off around the corner and headed for home. I did the one rein stop and got him stopped. Then I turned him around and headed toward the corner again and out toward the field. I told him in NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that we do NOT run away for just because. He has done this before so it comes back every so often :) Well we walked out toward the field and did some walking in the field. I actually hadn't planned to walk out there or do anything but since he was acting this way I knew I just couldn't head home without having this reaccur. So we walked out the field. I asked for a trot and he wanted to go faster so I asked for a canter. We cantered most of the lenght of the field (alongside the field lane). Wow was that fun. It is good exercise for Navajo and I enjoy it. I got him to walk and got him to breath a bit normally again then asked for a trot again. He wanted to canter :D So I asked for a canter again (we were headed toward the road behind the hayshed..which tells you kinda how far we went..we were the whole way down by the strip which is a very good distance from the hayshed but we rode in the field the whole way back there)...ANYWAY :D We cantered a bit. Then I turned him around to head back toward the field lane. He didn't want to go at first..I figured he knew that going the way we were would go home soon so he wanted to go that way..Smart horse. Well I said no we are going the way we came. So we cantered back to the field lane. I asked him to stop and he kept trying to sidepass :D I said no I don't want you to do that I want you to STOP. So since he wasn't calming down I trotted/walked him in circles. That helped a bit. So we walked most of the way out to the road again. I asked for a stop again and same story. So I backed him and that just made him mad. Not sure exactly what was going on. I think he just wanted to go HOME and not work anymore. Don't know. Anyway we had quite the work out. I am very sore from posting and also from doing more riding than normal. Navajo worked up a sweat. I am not surprised at all. We worked pretty hard or should I say he did. He seemed to enjoy it though! He didn't seem tired in the least and had quite a bit of energy even on the way home. Halfway in the field I stopped and walked the rest of the way to the strip. I got him to back a bit and respect my space since he was acting not so nice whenever I asked him to stop. When I asked him to stop from the ground he did ok. I also got him to move his hindquarters. Then we walked back to the barn and I wiped him off. Then I loved him and told him how good of a boy he is. I mean yes the ride might not have been as much fun as yesterday but it sure was good for us both. He learned how to back really good and did anything I asked but stopping really well. Hopefully tomorrow will go as good or better. We shall see!!
p.s. I do have pictures of him when he is nicely cleaned taken today that I will post soon!!