Provacative and Progressive!

Today's play session went SO well. First, I got him haltered and gave him a cookie (Charlotte ate the apple that was intended for him). I gathered my Cradle Bridle, lead rope, helmet, and four cookies and headed to the round pen. I had the thought that I wanted to practice our Liberty and if that went well, maybe some freestyle. So, we went into the round, I let him go, and I eventually began the Circling Game (#5) at Liberty. He was really unwilling to stay OUT on the circle, and kept asking continuous questions, so I brought him in while I thought of what to do. I decided to send him out and if he looked at me, gently encourage him forward. Once I did this a couple of times, he started turning the opposite direction, so I said, "Ok! Let's practice some change of direction!" He did a couple REALLY good changes where all I had to do was run back a bit and gently push his zone 2 away. I brought him in, gave him a cookie, and moved on. We had two cones set up, so I wanted to see if he would do a Figure-8 pattern at Liberty. HE DID. He did so well! He didn't leave me, and when I drew back he came toward me with his ears forward. One time around his zone 2 was already too far to turn in, so I drove his zone 3, and the pony who can barely do Sideways Game (#6) without a fence on line performed a beautiful side-pass and kept going. As you can imagine, I brought him in, gave him a cookie, a scratch, and a hug!
Every so often in my play sessions I try to put the Cradle on him and let him get used to it. So today, I put it on him (he didn't mind his ears at all) and he stopped fidgiting his mouth within a couple of minutes. I decided that I would just try to ride him with it, and see how it turned out. He stood perfectly still while I got on the upside-down water trough, and I slid right on. We rode around a bit and he was fine with the bit (isn't it amazing what prior and proper preparation can do for a horse?), so I did a bit of Figure-8 with the cones again. One of the cones was facing the gate, and every time he circled it, he would speed up and be reluctant to turn. So, I kept at it until the final turn he didn't speed up and he started to turn a bit on his own around the cone. He figured out the pattern!
The last thing I did was I got my carrot stick (I have never done carrot stick riding with him), and I Friendled Him with it, then I got a good Driving Game (#3) on both forehands.
He did so well today, and I think, even though we played in the round pen, he stayed interested in the lesson because it wasn't the same old thing.
Things to work on: Keep being the progressive, provocative Woody needs!
~Eden