Rupert June 21-29

Every day gets better! Free in the round pen Rupert reliably goes left and right around the round pen and turns to the inside to change direction. Walk, trot and canter. One the line he is super. I even lunged him in the pasture a few times and he was really good. Who would have thought just 2 weeks ago he could do that. Backs up well. Worked more on turning the 4 hand and can almost do 360 degree turn. I can helicopter the whip next to his side and in front of him and he stands relaxed. He can disengage the HQ for a 360 degree turn. Started putting the lead line around his barrel and pulling it taught in increments with no problem. I introduced Hanging off his withers on both sides with no problem.
Added jumping up and down next to him to simulate getting on "OMG she is going to eat me" - he had heart failure. You know when you initiate the stimulus you can not remove it until he calms down and stands still and relaxes. His head is up, he is snorting and bolting left and right. I direct his head and 2 eyes to keep looking at me. There I was bouncing up and down for 10 minutes. My thoughts were "I'm too old for this, where is the neighborhood kid I can pay to bounce. I tell you my thigh muscles are both sore today.
Every day we work on the hose and water at the end of the lesson. Yesterday he was just dipping his nose in the fringing spray of the hose. He would jerk back his head and put his nose back down to touch the water. I could water the grass on each side of him and about one foot in front of his front feet. I refrained from squirting his hoofs. :)