Steve:Wow, I haven’t realized it’s been so long since I’ve last made an entry on the blog. Sorry for that. I have been real busy, the rain has dried up and I have been playing catch up with just about every thing. Diago, my mustang makeover horse, is doing great. I am now riding him at a relaxed walk, trot, and canter. I am going to ride him in the arena for the first time today. I feel he will do well because of the previous ground work on the obstacle course, arena and round pen.
The self control exercises are coming along well too which should help us out if we make it to the final ten in the competition (I can always dream!). Diago has gotten over a lot of his training mentally but still carries much of his instinctual nature with him, for example his biggest deal is if he gets startled or nervous he still wants to ark his body to be ready to wheel and kick. I can’t stand that BUT it is tremendously better that when he first arrived. This upcoming week I plan on working on his stop, go, gait, introduction to neck reining and try to introduce vertical flexion at the stand still and walk if he’s ready. The following week I would like to work on the rail, his steering, more body softness and control and more vertical flexion.
