Riding The Wonder Horse

I rode Apache today to get him out of his pen and to work on some issues that have cropped up. He, as I've discussed before, has trouble picking up the correct lead. Apparently, it is not a mechanical problem but maybe some confusion in the cues I'm giving him or maybe he's just being a jerk. He also has problems bending in the correct direction. He doesn't have problems bending his neck, he just bends in the wrong direction, so when I'm going around a curve his head is pointed out of the arc instead of inward. It is odd and annoying.

So today we rode around the jogging track and first practiced getting on to the correct lead. He started out all wrong, so we would slow down to a trot and try again. Eventually, he started taking the correct lead fairly consistantly. Then we worked on bending. We first practiced going around the curve at a walk and keeping our head in. Then we tried at a trot. Then a gallop. He's still trying to figure this one out. He is confused by my "bring your head in" cue with the "slowing down or stopping" cue because they are essentially the same cue. I have to teach him that the inside rein is for setting his head and the outside rein is for speed control. We will get their eventually. Probably after I get it straight in my own head. Nevertheless, it was a good workout despite the gusting winds.