Follow the Fence

I wasn't much in the mood for playing online today.  So I just did a little warm-up.  The one new thing I did was play with the clippers.  I've got quite a bit of friendly game to do with them today.  Made good progress, but much more to do before he's confident, especially with the running, much less massaging him with them yet.

Then I saddled up.  The arena was pretty dusty, and I was bored of following the rail in there, so I decided to head outside!  I started out just walking a lap from zones 3/4/5 (depending on his needs).  After successfully determining that we could reasonably confidently make in around the pasture, I got on.  The first lap was rough, just getting him to stay along the fence.  About halfway through the first lap I started trotting.  We had only two really rough spots, one by where the chute to the house pasture is, and when going by the arena where all the other horses were gathered.  Two laps and we could trot right on by, very little corrections, and when I was ready to walk, he was right there for the downward transition!  I changed directions after we walked around, thinking that the other way might be a little more difficult.  Nope!  When we first started trotting he got a little impulsive, but after a lap settled into a nice trot.  Once again, when I wanted to walk, he was ready and willing.  =)  So much better than the last time I followed the fence around the upper/arena pasture.  If/when I do it again, I think doing lots of 180's, 360's, 9-step back-up, transitions, etc will make it even better!