It was a cool afternoon, and while Robin was really excited to try her new saddle, I was a little tired. So after we saddled up and went to the strip, I just kind of walked Bear around. We started by going up and down most of the strip. He didn’t like this in the beginning. He’d weave around and want to turn back, but he quickly realized that I would not give in to his desires.
Since mid-March Bear and I have really been working on faster gaits. In fact, I think this was the first ride in three months that I did not trot or lope. It felt kind of nice. Especially since he has been so goey lately.
So aside from just walking up and down the strip we also took some time to work on our stops and turning off leg pressure. He was pretty good with the former, and so so with the latter. Towards the end of the ride he started getting better with the turns, but I think he was just paying more attention to me at that point. I have not figured out a great way to get him to focus on me when there is a running Steen/bugs/a storm coming/etc. This is definitely something I’ll have to work on.
In my quest to keep things switched up with Bear, I’ll have to remember the option to just walk around. I think it is a nice break for both of us.