2011 – Rock & Roll – 7-12-11 – OUTDOOR ARENA TRAINING

7/12/11: Due to Rock’s back problem, I decided to take out the rails and just walk him through the hourglass pattern to keep things simple and non-stressful. He did very well today and only did a couple of stops in the entire pattern when he did not stop squarely and I had to set him up. Most of the time, he stopped perfectly square. Since Roll had to have his right hind corrected somewhat drastically, I decided to do his workout in the hourglass pattern as well and not do the round pen work today. He did the hourglass very well during the leading phase. He has taken responsibility and is strong enough so I did not have to drag him along at all…he offered impulsion. Then I ground drove him through and he did well with that once he figured out what I wanted. Both mules acted the same way during ground driving and indicated that they have never had a constant direct rein connection before. It didn’t take long for them to take the light connection with my hands and when they did (Rock was ground driven last week) they had more impulsion, straighter lines and smooth arcs at the cones.