Chrome's Thirteenth Ride!

 
We've been having some crappy winter weather, so when today turned out slightly warmer and sunny I decided I couldn't pass up the chance to ride Chrome.  :D  He was such a good boy!

I got my clicker, treats, bridle, helmet and gloves, then headed for the pasture.  I bridled him and then used his tire pedestal to get on bareback.  First we worked on some lateral flexion because even though he knows it from the ground I haven't really worked on it from his back.  He can be difficult to steer (although that's getting MUCH better) because he doesn't fully understand bridle pressure, so I figured lateral flexion would help him understand the lateral bridle cues.  It worked!  At first when I asked him to flex he would walk circles, but he quickly figured out to stand still.  The funny part is he thinks bumping my leg is what I'm clicking LOL!  We'll work on that.  After I got him doing both sides off of light rein pressure (okay it was light for him, we need to work on lightness some more) I asked him to walk off and then tried circling him.  It worked!  He listened to the rein pressure much better.

So then we started walking off into the pasture.  He was a little hesitant because of the mud (and he was still thinking about flexion) so I asked my husband to lead him so I could click a straight, forward walk.  Once he figured that out I decided to try trotting.  It took a couple of tries, but he finally trotted (going off of the cue of my husband jogging, he still doesn't understand that leg pressure can mean go faster, he just thinks it means walk).  We only went three or four steps before I clicked and he stopped.  The second time he wasn't too sure, but the third time he was all for it!  You could tell he was understanding and getting excited about trotting and earning a click.  So I decided at that point to work on walk and whoa again lol.  I don't want him getting too excited, especially bareback with iffy steering and stopping hehe.

I only rode for about ten minutes and then I got off and practiced a little with his backing from his tail.  He thought at first he was supposed to spin circles, pulling me along by his tail, but my husband put his hand on Chrome's chest to remind him to go backwards and he did great after that.  Then I took him for a short walk on the road.  We went to the hill and practiced backing uphill.  He remembered the work we had done on it, but still needs practice at backing straight and with his head down.  We will get there.  :)  I'm going to try to get out and do more clicker training with him, but a lot of it will depend on the weather.  :)

I think I'm going to skip doing a recap of 2012 post because it was rather boring and full of non-horse related things lol.  I'm going to try to make 2013 a lot more horse/fun filled.  I gotta get out of this rut I'm in.  So look forward to a Goals of 2013 post soon!!  One of my goals is going to be getting back into posting on my blog and reading yours!  Sorry I'm been so quiet.

P.S.  My apologies for not getting any pictures today.  The one up top is an old one.  :)