I think Peds and I just had a turning point ride!
We were schooling this morning and I just felt like we turned a corner. I have been working on getting him to stretch and relax in walk and trot on a long rein the past couple weeks. This morning there was a tractor spraying the crop field next to my field and peds was feeling good rather tense. But one circuit in walk on a longer rein, keeping the tempo slow, and he was totally chilled and listening to me even managed to calm him down after he lost his head a bit in canter the same way and quickly! He goes so beautifully when he is relaxed and I finally seem to have found the way to relax him!! (Just takes a fair bit of bravery on my part as when he's getting worked up what I want to do is shorten my reins, not lengthen them!!)
We were schooling this morning and I just felt like we turned a corner. I have been working on getting him to stretch and relax in walk and trot on a long rein the past couple weeks. This morning there was a tractor spraying the crop field next to my field and peds was feeling good rather tense. But one circuit in walk on a longer rein, keeping the tempo slow, and he was totally chilled and listening to me even managed to calm him down after he lost his head a bit in canter the same way and quickly! He goes so beautifully when he is relaxed and I finally seem to have found the way to relax him!! (Just takes a fair bit of bravery on my part as when he's getting worked up what I want to do is shorten my reins, not lengthen them!!)