Lots of Liberty All Around

First off... Happy Valentine's Day! I went out to see and play with my valentine today, and it went pretty well. We played on the 45' rope today... very different! At first when we went out, he started running around, so I said, "You wanna run? Let me help you!" and we started the Circling Game. He was acting like the biggest snot I had seen in a long while with the way he would THROW himself again the rope and practically canter into my hold so he could go up this hill. I racked my brain for what to do, and all the sudden remembered the power position Esther Miller once taught me to use with Sassy. I would set my body up so he would hit the end of the line, which he didn't care for. Finally, after a couple circles, his trot slowed and slack went on the rope, and he started this wonderful trot circle with tons of slack. I brought him in, rubbed his head, and he was allowed to graze a bit.
After that we did a bunch of other things, including some zone 4/5 driving. I went to stop him at one point by shaking the rope, and he ignored it, so I stopped what we were doing and played a lot of Yo-Yo until he was pretty sharp and in-tune. Then we went back to driving and I was able to stop him with the rope.
Basically the whole session was about me trying to get more handy with the new rope, but it went well. I was also trying to encourage him to ask me questions by not letting him eat until he asked me.
Also, when I have been going to throw hay lately, I have been playing with him at Liberty, which has been going well. We have been doing more backing by the tail, back by the back legs (that is SO cool), and holding his legs for 30 seconds. It has been going well and it allows us to play to some degree almost everyday.
I hope everyone has had a happy Valentine's Day!
~Eden