A week later.... not so nice

So giving Rio a week off from arena work wasn't such a good idea. Two steps forward, one step back. At one point in the Jim Anderson clinic, he mentioned that Rio needed consistent work, even if it's only 20 minutes a day 5 days a week. Today, he was bracing against the reins; he's stop when asked, then lower his head until he bumped the bit, and a few times just went right through the stop; his back up fell apart too. Guess he just didn't want to work today. Shayla had me get on him so she could see what he was doing, and he did the same stuff with me as with her. In this photo, a stride before I had asked him to stop and he just stuck his nose out and blew right through it right to the end wall. Of course, it didn't help that I braced against him!

He would be nice and soft and then would just fall apart.

We weren't getting anywhere, so it was time to change things up.

 Shayla came up with the idea to put him in the round pen, bitted up, and let him figure it out on his own. Poor boy, had to work! Awww! It was notable that in the round pen, he didn't crossfire; if he did he would have fallen down. We could see him start to, almost like he would break to a trot behind, then he'd have to pick up the correct lead again or fall over!
It worked. When Shayla got back on him he was quite willing to soften up, stop and back nicely, and stay on the correct lead at the lope. So now, we know that we need to have a plan for him. I won't be able to haul to the arena as much as I'd like to, so he will have to do some of the work at home in the field or down the road.
Hope the weather holds for a bit!

We also hauled Shayla's mare Allie, here she is with both horses, and yes, they are both big horses!