Busted

Sonny and I had another fantastic lesson with Juli yesterday (that makes lesson #4 with her). She had me list a few of our strengths and weaknesses and then we focused on how to better the weaknesses. Of course, our weak pattern was the weave. She really helped me break it down into pieces that were easier for me to understand. How am I supposed to communicate to Sonny what I want him to do if I am not really sure myself? So now, for once, I am actually excited to play with the weave!

Weaving around tall cones: challenging and humorous ;)

The freestyle portion of the lesson was just what I needed. After a 'non-ideal' ride Saturday, it was very reassuring to have such a brilliant ride last night! One of the problems we focused on was the follow the rail pattern. Lately (but only at the trot), Sonny has been taking off or diving into the middle of the arena. I thought he was playing the game 'you can't make me stay on the rail'. But, when I started telling Juli that he also takes off if he doesn't want to turn back to the question box, the real game was more obvious. He was playing the 'If I speed up, Emily will stop me then I can just stand there' game. BUSTED! Sonny may be clever, but he can't out smart Juli!

Asking to back (which explains my position).

As funny as it sounds, it seemed like he didn't even want to play the game anymore after we talked about it. At one point he decided to dash to the question box in order to get the rest, so we increased our pace and just like magic, and all of a sudden that game was not any fun anymore! Now that I have more arrows in my quiver, I am excited to ride again! What a great lesson!

A very 'thought provoking' lesson! :)