In the Arena #17 - You could say we have a "confirmed" turn on the forehand

Some of the feedback I got from Val's massage therapist last weekend was that he needed to build up the muscles in his haunches and his topline, which I knew, but that his shoulders looked in good shape. In fact, she said, "It looks like he's been doing a lot of turns on the forehand." This made my trainer BUST out laughing, and me feel just a tad embarrassed. You see, turn on the forehand is our go-to maneuver when we're having communication breakdowns. Apparently a pretty common occurance. In fact, on a few occasions Val has offered 360's of turns on the forehand - we looked like we were working on our reining moves... time to diversify :)

I headed down to the barn yesterday evening with the intention of doing some kind of work with Val, even if it wasn't going to be a ride. I cleaned up and got his dinner ready, and then pulled out the lunge line. This would be the first time we've lunged on our own in a while. I attempted to clear my mind of the numerous times we had less than successful lungeing sessions and imagine everything going smoothly.

It was still super hot (6pm in the shade)...

                                                                                         ... but work we did.
Val tried his patented crazy eye run off bucking manuever, but I kept hold of him and continued to drive him forward. Soon enough we got some nice work in both directions. Next came a cool rinse, some grazing and a big bucket of mash. What a good boy!

                  Look out Val, there's a lot more lungeing in your future...