Some clicker work

It's either raining or bloody hot. Now that I have trails and the confidence to ride them, the weather this year will not cooperate.

Ah well, at least it was in the low 70s and between storms when I got out of work today. I didn't feel like riding (everything is soggy), so I did a little clicker work. We haven't done clicker in a while, and there were some changes.

When I asked for a right rear leg lift, he would lift and immediately put it down. He would not hold it up. I'd keep asking, he'd try picking it up several times, backing up a step, lifting other feet (almost a piaffe at times), but he would not hold it up. I stopped, asked again, he lifted it high, I clicked, rewarded, and moved on.

His stand command (his freeze command) isn't as rock solid as it used to be. I eventually just stood close to his head, only waited a couple of seconds while he was solid, clicked, rewarded, and moved on.

His smile still sucks, but I almost started completely over, changed my cue, and he seems more responsive.

His standing pawing has gained serious air! They are downright impressive.

My main aim was to work on the Spanish Walk. It's hard for me to do this alone as I can only be on one side at a time. However, on his own at times he would start alternating legs, offering the exaggerated step with each. However, they are low, and he has a tendency to drop his head/neck as he does this. It's almost a western headset. I really don't know what to do, although I suppose that I would be able to support his head from the saddle. However, it would be much easier to do this with help from the ground, but that might be difficult to arrange.

Maybe I should just read the chapter in my trick book on the Spanish Walk again. Then again, they don't call it that, they call it the March. I wonder if it's because it isn't quite the Spanish Walk, or because they figured that they would have to explain it to their target audience?

I might just give up on it.

I'm not entirely sure why I want to bother with the Spanish Walk anyway. It's probably because I feel like the Tennessee Walker is one of the rednecks of the horse world, and so a TW preforming like one of dems fancy shmancy Spanish horses is pretty damn sweet. Or, it's because the breed is so harshly manipulated to move in an odd way, especially in the front, that doing something along the same lines - except without abuse and purely because the horse wants to - gives me a smug sense of satisfaction.

Or, maybe I just want Peanut to strut. :)