Kate & Pro - 9/8

"There is a time and a place to go dominatrix on your horse. Know those times." -Gayle

So today I was presented with one of those opportunities. As soon as I got on, Pro made it very clear that he didn't have any intention of settling down into whatever I wanted. He cranked his face up by the bench and tried to scoot sideways. I realized I could play with some pirouettes for awhile, or move somewhere else, or just flat out say "THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE." I decided to try the last option so as he whirled his butt away from the bench I "got in the backseat" (as my old eventing instructor used to say), pushed both reins forward and just booted the snot out of him. He bucked a few times but eventually scooted up toward the bench. Then it was HEAD DOWN and 10m circles by the bench (complete with massive booting for any hesitation) until he walked by it like a gentleman. Apparently I effectively conveyed that I wasn't taking any crap today, because after a few circles he settled right down and that was the end of that!

From there, we had a pretty decent ride. I played with using my outside rein to get some shoulder-fore, rewarding him with inside rein pats and practicing maintaining my hand position while using the inside rein to reward. When I was ready for the walk pirouettes I was surprised to see a BIG improvement from the last time I tried them. He's quickly learned that I don't want a 360-degree spin when I relax my inside rein and use my outside aids to turn him to form the "corner" of the "box". Just a 90-degree rotation! He also isn't putting his head up anymore during the turns. From there, the trot wasn't too bad. I managed to keep my hands where they were supposed to, and sort of convinced him that it was still okay. I tried some more "light posting" to get him to step up and under himself and relax his back - seemed to work.

Going to the left was a bit tougher, since he really prefers to counterbend right. I kept resisting the urge to pull with my left rein, and just focused on my outside aids. I did TRY the outside leg back thing that Andrea described but couldn't get it to work for me. However, a few quick canter-trot transitions seemed to get him to soften, and he eventually was mostly straight (ie, bent) at the posting trot. I let him walk on a long rein and ended there. :)