Learning to listen...

E. had her first lesson in over a week. Consequently, Curly was on the energetic side. The wind blowing all around us didn't help, either!

Trying to get the horse to take a bit is still a big ordeal. E. got very frustrated so her trainer stepped in to help. After working a few minutes, Curly finally accepted the bit when she said "Open." We are now wondering if perhaps he was trained to use this word as his cue....or perhaps it was a pure coincidence! We'll try saying "open" next ride...

His head tossing is substantially reduced - down to maybe 10% of what he started with. E. still uses the martingale, but perhaps by July Curly will be able to go without.

The big lesson today was listening - something the horse didn't want to do (E., on the other hand, can be an excellent listener!). He tried to take control of their movement in the arena and there were many struggles between Curly and E. over direction and speed. But E. stuck with it and made him realize that she meant what she said. This is not always an easy task, and really not a fun way to spend an hour on a horse, but eventually her focus and determination will pay off.

E. unintentionally discovered that Curly has a great response to a particular cue for transitioning from a walk immediately up to a canter. He was very smooth and looked wonderful!