Keep walking

Today I took Tug to the end of the pasture so that we could play the circling game on the hill. He went sideways to the left to the gate for a few feet, and he really seemed to understand it. We got a round bale of hay yesterday so the horses weren't on the pasture today. As we walked, I got him to go sideways to the right and then I asked him to do it while I stood still. That went really good since we haven't even done that with a fence yet. I let him graze in the really green spots for a few seconds, and then we got to the hill. I haven't asked him to transition into a canter yet because I haven't gotten him to understand slowing down. So that's what we worked on today. I never really got frustrated with him, but I was persistent. If I had ended it when he slowed down and then stopped, he would have thought that was what I actually wanted. He's so smart that it would have been hard to teach him to keep going. So I tried shorting the line and eventually he finally kept walking. I really think he understood it when I brought him in right away so hopefully he'll remember this next time. Then I got on him and rode him back to the barn. He ate along the way, and we even trotted twice! I'm okay until I try to slow him down, and then I start to bounce. :P