Ending on a High C

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there!! I hope you have a wonderful day, completely devoted to YOU. After going to Sunday School this morning, my family and my grandparents headed out to a wonderful lunch at our country club. Coming back, though I was tired, I couldn't stand to not go outside and make the most of this beautiful day. Everyone besides Mom and I headed down to the pond to fish and play with the dog, and we went out to play with the horses. I started out by allowing Woody to eat down the grass in the pen for a while. Then, I haltered him and we began to practice some patterns. We did the Figure-8 at the walk, which he did INCREDIBLY!! I barely had any contact on the rope and he came to me with a marvelously happy expression, and then I drove him gently to continue the pattern. I decided it was time to step it up to a trot, and that didn't go quite as well. He hasn't practiced at a trot much, and being a LBI, he was very sluggish. I used my soft technique, with the strong "wake up call", which put an extra pep in his step. We didn't do much of that because it proved to be tedious, so on a particularly good one, I let him come in. We then did some Sideways without a fence, a bit of Liberty, and put the bareback pad on him, planning to practice the focusing techniques that Terrie helped us with. However, Mom wanted to take Charlotte down to the pond, so I went withher. On the way down the hill, Woody decided he wanted to canter a bit, so I cantered with him and MAN, can that boy to some STAR JUMPS. I swear, at one point, all four of his feet were off the ground aout 3 feet! Though it was incredible and entertaining, it was a bit intimidating and neverless, I am so thankful I decided on using my 22' rope. We hung out by the pond with everyone for a bit, then eventually headed our way up the hill. Mom and I decided that I would get on Woody and she would lead me with Charlotte, so we did just that until we got to the pasture. Then, Mom got on Charlotte bareback and I on Woody, and we followed each other around the pasture, trotting and walking, just playing around.
We were playing Follow the Rail around the whole pasture, when Mom in front of me goes "Ok, let's trot!" up this big hill. So, she takes off trotting on Char, and I squeezed Woods a bit with lots of energy saying "GO!" Well, he took this to heart, and leaped into action: a canter. I was so surprised and shocked, in a good way! I went with him until we got to the top of the hill, then followed the rail around the turn, and dismounted. I was so proud of him for offering me that canter, and it really shows that our cantering excercises are working, seeing as how he didn't buck or anything.
Afterwards, Mom and Char played with the trailer a little bit, while I sat watching on Wood without his halter on.
... Therefore, our session ended on a High Canter.
~Eden