Catching Up - Sunday Afternoon Session

On Sunday afternoon after church, Mom and I decided to go out, tack up the horses, and take them out to play and see how it went. Once Woody was tacked up (went pretty quickly because he's such a good boy), we went to play while Mom and Charlotte finished their tacking session. I am so proud of Woody because he is able to carry the Figure-8 pattern with me standing at about 15 feet away on the 22ft line. His expression is also not negative at all.... hooray for Patterns! We also went outside to play a bit with traveling circles and also a bit of Stick to Me (which was awesome because I went toward a row of two barrels at a jog/trot with him next to me; I jumped and he jumped right with me!). After he was in a good thinking frame of mind I took him back inside the fence, put his Cradle on, and buckled my helmet. I got on from the log and he stood so still... I remember the days when he had NO earthly comprehension of a mounting block or anything I stood on to get on him. He would think he was supposed to get on it rather than me! He has really progressed SO much since I've had him. I LOVE HIM!
Anyways, Mom wanted help doing the Figure-8 pattern with Charlotte on line, so I helped her from his back (It was pretty cool because I felt like an instructor.. haha!) and once she realized that micromanaging and "yelling" at Charlotte was not the way, they did REALLY well. Charlotte is a pretty fast learner, the key is she only learns quickly if its something she wants to learn. I was really proud of them both.
Mom got on her and we both practiced Figure-8 patterns freestyle. Woody was resistant at first, but then he really started trying and did great.
Woody and I moseyed around the pasture for a little while, and we did Follow the Rail. I think he really understands this pattern because I only had to correct him in the beginning, but as we went on he really took up the responsibility of maintaining direction.
We had a really great session that day and so did Mom and Charlotte... very positive and progressive!
Things to work on: Keep working with Woody in freestyle in the fence and round pen and get REALLY good in there before taking him outside... a.k.a. SET THINGS UP FOR SUCCESS!
~Eden