Let's dance the two-step

Got to love training horses, or any animal for that matter!  There's that lovely dance we have, one step forward, one step back.  Since I currently don't have the means to haul into the indoor arena right now I am doing a lot of lunging and ground work with Celtic at the barn.  I have learned that she is not happy with a lunge whip (for a later post) and takes a while to really focus on me when we're working.  Of course it doesn't help when the rest of the horses are still in their field in plain view of where we work.

Today was a bit of a step sideways in our work on the lunge.  We started as usual with some high-stepping trot immediately when she gets out on the circle, with me using line and lunge whip.  As we go, I remove lunge whip and get a little more demanding in my halts and walks.  By the end of our session (~25 mins) we get the video below which is about where we ended last time.  Right now our main goal is going relaxed on the line at the walk and trot, halting, and reversing consistently.  We have trot consistent (not quite relaxed all the time) and halting is good.  When we get a walk, it is good... when we get it.  She is better to the left than to the right for walking, and when I get her walk, she is easy to reverse right to left, yet sometimes sticky left to right.  Of course this all points to, along with our last ride, her weaker side is the right. 

Here is a video of the last bit of our lunging session where she is coming down and listening to my cues, instead of prancing around like an arabian princess...

Please note:  I have her inside ear!  YES!

 I am looking into picking up a surcingle, and possibly a set of draw or vienna reins to help our lunging sessions move into more of a schooling/strengthening exercise along with being an obedience exercise.