Battle of the wills...

E. had another 4-H ride night on Tuesday. Curly did okay but was challenging throughout the evening. The group was working on completing specific patterns, so precision was the goal - something that E. and Curly are still working on.

The end of the ride was a disaster - or maybe it was a triumph. Horses were leaving the arena as E. and Curly approached the gate so he decided to stop and leave too - without being asked to. This is absolutely not allowed! Curly still needs to learn that E. (or anyone riding him, for that matter) decides where they are riding, not him. E. realized immediately that this was an important teaching moment and signaled to keep going around the arena. He just stood there, looking at the gate. She tried kicking as hard as she could, but he refused to budge. By this time tears are streaming down her face because she is tired and frustrated. I stepped in and slapped him on the rear - and he just looked at me (now I'm frustrated too!). I grabbed his lead rope off the fence, told E. to hang on and "encouraged" him to move with a quick whip of the rope on his hindquarters. Curly finally figured out that he wasn't going to win this battle. He slowed on the next pass by the gate but kept moving. On the third time around the arena he did a little hop that frightened E. so she finally let him stop and quit for the night. This was a hard one for her, but I was very proud of her for sticking with it and teaching him that she is in control.

When E. was putting away tack, we asked her if she still liked her horse and she said that, yes, she did. Good thing they are so cute! Within 10 minutes of ending the ride there was no trace of her tears and she was back to her happy self.

Yesterday E.'s trainer tried a new bit on Curly. As she was putting him through different patterns she commented several times that E.'s hard work is very obvious when you ride him now. Curly responds nicely to leg cues and is beginning to submit to a rider's requests more frequently and more smoothly. He behaved very nicely for the trainer for her first 20 minutes on him....and then he proceeded to pull some of his regular tricks (disregarding direction cues, tossing his head, etc.). But he has learned bunches this past month and is going to be a great horse.