Clinic update

So now that the holidays are over, it's time for a clinic update. Walker was just fabulous this time around. He was much calmer in the group and yet he still had lots of energy. Kerri pointed out a flaw in my cantering, I was scooping instead of flowing back and up with the canter. Now that my surgery foot has healed adequately, I rode twice this week, and what a difference it made! Walker has had huge energy at the canter, but with exuberance, no craziness. I laughed out loud each time we stopped for a break, fed him cookies as a thank you. And I know I was riding differently, because I had sore muscles. We also worked on our circling game at Liberty, and Walker was able to do a flying lead change at Liberty. What I did find out was that I still needed to play with my draw at Liberty, and we have made excellent strides with that over the last couple of days.
It has been raining quite a bit where we are, and we don't have a large indoor arena. However, we have a large park across the street with big open fields. I go out and mark an arena with cones and it works really well, plus Walker now likes being out in the open. It gives me an "arena" to play in and it helps me focus on the patterns we are playing with. My favorite right now is the clover leaf. I also ride a dressage test to mix it up a little bit so Walker doesn't get bored or stale.
It is wonderful to now be having FUN with my horse. And although I know Walker doesn't think of it as "fun" the way I do, I can tell he feels good about our sessions together. It feels like this is what he was born to do, canter big and beautiful in the middle of a park!
Maverick, the horse Wendy and I own together, is making big strides fast. We play with him in the small indoor arena, where he can now play almost all the seven games online as well as at Liberty. His Liberty stick to me game is really getting good. I love Liberty! It is so much fun, but especially with my extroverted horses.