Better

Saturday I  came out to ride. This time I had Iceman stand still for 10 seconds before we went anywhere. From there it was our best ride to that point. We worked on circles. CIRCLES ARE WONDERFUL!! After going around for a while at a lope, he was more willing to slow down and he trotted a circle!!!!!!!! I was so excited. While we were loping, he was happy to stay at a nice slow lope. I felt like he did not need to run, but that he just likes to move. I noticed that I have to keep my focus on where we are going or else we go off course. Most of the time he follows my body movements and where my focus is. He is better at matching me when we are going in circles in comparison to riding in straight lines.


Movie Raquel and Iceman
Some things I noticed about myself after watching this video is I do not think I always give him time to ask a question or figure things out for himself. I noticed this particularly while we were weaving through the ground poles. I don't think I gave him a chance to follow my focus.

Loping
In this video, I noticed my stirrups were too short and I was bouncing around at the beginning. But what I like about this video is how nicely Iceman was loping. He was not trying to run off with me, it was a nice slow lope. He even responds positively to my request to slow down to a trot.