Long Lining Success

I think I may have the smartest baby ever!!!! So like I said.. no work with Dan in awhile, because of work, weather, etc. So since Fleck pulled a shoe and I didn't want to risk riding him and making him lame for Pine Top... it was Danny day!

We groomed... Ugh, the hair! He is definitely shedding out! And then we went to the round pen and practiced our lunging and our transitions. Not so good with the downwards this time. Doh! And he certainly had some moments of naughty! Mostly just feeling good and being silly. So we got some good work accomplished and even did a few jumps! He would jump it the first time, then stop to try to eat it. No... jump, go, jump! ha ha! So then we did some work where I walk beside and behind him rather than true lunging and he got a little naughty, so we did a short bit of cantering on the lunge! Egads.. not my idea, but he wouldn't come down for a lap or two. So anyways, he did pretty good with the precursor to long lining so I went ahead and ran the lines on both side through the surcingle and stood behind him.

 Walk on... tap with the whip.. and he did!! We did about 10 minutes of walking and turning and even halting! Turning is not fine tuned yet, but he was really getting the hang of it! I'm so proud of him. 

Then I untacked him and he trotted over the jump with me again. Then he had fun playing with everything on the ground... his halter, the whip, the saddle pad. Goofy!!

I love this kid! 

Oh, and as an aside.... The other day when I brought Fleck back home, Dan came up to the trailer so I gave him a cookie. Well, then I left and heard Danny pawing on the trailer step bar. I came flying around the corner of the trailer swinging my lunch box at him, hoping to scare him and teach him not to paw the trailer. That's not exactly what happened.... Ha! He looked at me... and said "Well, where are my cookies?"! ha! Flinging lunch boxes are apparently not scary. So.... I guess he's pretty spook proof!