Training day 17- the whoa

Now that I know that Kai has no problems packing me around, it's time to get back to boot camp with him. Today's session was all about whoa. If you were paying attention in the videos I've posted, you would notice that he kind of cruises slowly to a stop. I want him to plant his butt when I say whoa, but that's an end result that has to be worked towards. So today, I worked him in the round pen on a long line and we worked on getting his feet to stop, and not turn and walk towards me but wait for what I was asking for next. He got it after a bit, he would turn his head and look at me but not his feet. We did have a few of these turn-the-body- after -stopping, but  he did get that I was going to send him out again so he learned to just wait instead of turning.

After that, I increased my demands on him- I saddled him up, and put on the bridle and driving lines. This really showed the holes in his training; I got him moving out ok, but he protested at some of the turns and at the whoa. I worked him for about half an hour, and I've come to the conclusion that in his past, when he said "No!" people gave in instead of working him through it. By the end of the session, he was stopping and backing when I asked, and doing both inside and outside turns fairly smoothly. But he really did protest a lot, I could see that he was frustrated with trying to figure out this "pressure on the bit" thing (and yes, his teeth were done shortly after I got him back). I will keep at it for a few more sessions because I want him to really understand whoa and back and turn before I go solo on him. I think he's pretty smart, so I expect the next session will go much better.