Happy Labor Day! Monday, September 1st....

No words needed for this one.....





I walked out the door at 8:00 this morning and knew it was going to be another warm day. It was so humid, and there was not that cool edge to the air that makes mornings so wonderful. Better get to the arena!

This morning we worked on the same stuff - especially cantering. I just need to be careful not to burn him out on it. Today was not as good as last night was, but it was still alright. Last night he was probably too tired to argue with me. This morning he was well rested and thought arguing was an option.
Butt hops were at a minimum, so that is progress, and I did steer him different directions, but the stinker would up and stop with no warning, then turn the other way! I started questioning my body language.....I had to have done something that made him think that was what he was supposed to do. I really could not figure out if it was me or him....so I treated it like it was both of us. I was careful with what I was telling him, and if he didn't go with it I was more firm in my 'asking'.

Here we are going around the corner...



The dude loves to trot, but cantering just isn't so much fun for him. Actually that isn't true....on the trail we will canter and he seems happy to do it. I think he just doesn't like arena work. I try to change things up a lot because I don't like arena work either. I will say this tho - it is teaching me patience! I have learned so much working with Tripp, and one of the things is if something is not working, back up a step, start over, and give it another try. Being in the arena has given us a good place to work on some of those things that would have been more of a challenge at home on the uneven ground.

Brian planted himself in the announcer stand to take pictures. I think the breeze was better up there too. :-)



For the competition I would like the right leads, but at this point I am not going to stress over it too much. I just want him to give me a nice canter in a straight line when I ask him. To set him up for the correct lead I was starting in the corners, and after reviewing some of the video's, that seems to be working. He would fall down to a trot, and when I started him back up again he would pick up the correct lead again. Now I need to learn how to cue the correct lead and see how that goes. I kind of know...but 'kind of' doesn't get it. :-)

After we were done I let Tripp loose in the arena hoping he would run and run and stretch those legs. Nope - there was scrubby grass in there that he thought he needed to eat. I had to run after him and he would run a couple of steps, then stop. I did get him moving a couple of times, and once he did give me the big kick in the air I was looking for. This is the pre-kick......



He would scoot around me, then face up with me. I was pleased with that.

This evening we played with the obstacles and jumped over the barrels. We also worked on our trotting on the lead. Every single time I asked him last week he did it! I was very excited. Today, nope, not doing it. So tonite I had Brian chasing us around to get him going. We would keep going and once Tripp realized Brian was not close, he would go back to the walk. We did that a few times, decided that it was a good time to stop, and that was mainly because I thought I was going to pass out! Not literally, but dang that is work! So, we might or might not get that trot on the lead. I am not giving up tho! :-)

That is about it for now.

Until later.....Karen and Tripp