Walk and Whoa Leah

 

Today was another Katie Day, and we decided to stay home and see how he did on the gate backing from last week. Spoiler Alert: he backed right into the arena at first ask. We were like, well, that was uneventful. 

He had other issues though. The wind was blowing and he was a bit wound up and herd bound. Katie got to work him through that, but it wasn’t as dramatic as last week. One of his things was stopping and putting his head up, rather than stopping with it down. That was a new one.

I took the opportunity to ride my old trail horse, Leah. I figure a little walking and whoaing, sprinkled with backing, is good exercise for her. 

At first, she was excited thinking I was going to put her to work (or who knows what), but when she figured out all I wanted was the walk, she began to drop her head, calm down, and enjoy the ride.

As we were going around and over obstacles, I told her we’re less rock and roll now and more walk and whoa.

She seemed to understand what I meant. 

Tweed was so good at the equestrian park Sunday that I figured it would be best to put off having Katie ride him there until he gets shoes on. I prefer that she be doing what I can’t do already. Plus, the work he does at home pushes all the right buttons and that makes him better away, too.