Thresholds

Mom wanted to trail ride today so I went out and played around with Tug to see if I could get him in the mood. We started with the touch it pattern with his feet and then we tried the figure 8. It was great! He's starting to do a lot more on his own! Next we did sideways to the left over some cones with went well too. He wasn't in the best of moods when we started, but after all of this he was much better. I showed Mom how he paws the tarp up around his feet and then I started to saddle him. Before we started playing I put the saddle on the roundpen. Maybe this was why he wasn't in a good mood. Anyways, as I brushed the pad, he started to help by sticking his nose in the way. :P Once he was saddled we played the circling game and I got some really nice changes of direction! :) Then he refused the bit and ended up getting his tounge over it while I went to the house to change into boots. When we started off on the trails I let him eat in the places I knew were safe. I don't know what some grasses and bushes are on the trails. He didn't dive for it that bad after this, but he seemed to get worse about eating as we went along. After a while this frustrated me and I pushed him over thresholds without realizing it. He started trotting in places that couldn't be excused as momentum and pretty soon he didn't grab at everything. These were clues to me pushing him over thresholds. It's not that he was scared I don't think, but he didn't want to go. He's very forgiving though and went on like nothing happened. I had to get off once and walk him down a hill that's slippery with pine needles. When we got to the bottom he stepped over his reins and pulled his head up fast. I quickly unsnapped them though. :) As we neared a house set back in the woods a little, and we started to get on a road, Tug took off kind of at a trot I guess. I really don't remember. Anyways I wasn't prepared and I almost got left behind. He stopped when I asked him to but he turned to the house. Dot was looking at him and he was looking at 3 horses and a donkey that were looking at us. One of them must have said something to spook Tug because he was probably a little on edge. As we headed home he relaxed and blew out.