Kate & Pro - 7/1...perfect!!!!

Yup, it was GREAT!!!! I was SO pleased with my boy today.

So yesterday, Gayle was out to trim him and we talked about his progress lately (oh the benefits of having your trimmer also be your trainer!!). I explained the boredom theory and she basically said, "Yup, he's probably bored. And no, that's NOT an excuse. Ever." I groaned, of course, but she said that I know he's going to fight me for the rest of his existence. That's Pro - he's had 14/15 years of bad/improper/insufficient training, so it's not all going to get erased quickly. She agreed that he probably is bored with focusing on the basics of going round correctly...but too bad. He can be bored out of his skull but he is NOT in charge and NOT allowed to dictate what we do. She said it was fine and even great that Andrea and I are spicing things up with poles, etc., but that he needs to submit and behave, regardless. *sigh* But unless I want to get 5's on "submission" for the rest of my dressage tests with this horse, I know it's true.

Anyway, she also whomped him on the belly with the flat end of her rasp yesterday because he shoved her. I'm convinced that was the magic smack that knocked some sense into him, because today he was AWESOME.

Mary - I used your "jumbled pole" idea!!! I set up 3 regular trot poles, and put two other poles in a narrow V-shape at the other end of the arena. I walked up to the V and oh my GAWD, the drama queen Pro nearly had a fit over the poles. "But Mooooooom...they're not STRAIGHT!" I kicked him, let him have his head, and he stumbled through, then scooted when he kicked a pole. We repeated a few times and I just couldn't help but grin at how he was relishing the challenge of this new "puzzle".

His walk work after that was great, and submissive, and so was his trot. I then trotted through the regular poles and he was AMAZING. No giraffe imitations; he dropped his neck level and delicately trotted right through, time after time. He bucked into the transition on our canter circle, but I was just so darn pleased with everything, including his canter, that it didn't even matter. He got to figure out the V-shaped pole jumble during our cool down and got a BIG carrot at the end. What a GOOD BOY!!!!