Have had a few sessions with Balthazar that I haven't recorded:   a ride to the end of the road, some grazing, one online, one groom plus carrot and then releasing back into the paddock and today, some online work and riding in the arena.  Went in with the idea that I would keep my energy up whilst giving lots of breaks and verbal praise, kind of a balancing point of pressure and release.  I wanted him 'with' me, not zoning out as he tends to do when I'm too soft, but also didn't want to exert so much pressure that he was squeaking (sheath) and unhappy.  For the most part we were successful.  With less fuzziness on my part and clearer direction as to what we were doing Balthazar was able to do as he was directed more readily.  Also, when he tried but tried the wrong thing for the most part I just switched gears and made the wrong thing, the right thing.  Sometimes I insisted that he follow direction but if his doing the wrong thing seemed more an act of not knowing rather than disobedience, why not reward the try?

His sideways on the fence and even in the middle of the arena was much better.  I woke him up by insisting that he move his forehand over when I asked.  He was just moving his head and not going anywhere.  I followed through and made contact with his jaw.  Not hard but he had to know that if he didn't DO something there would be consequences.  After that wake up call he was excellent.    He was even yielding with a little distance between my asking hand and his head or hindquarter.

At the end of the online session asked him to touch objects.  We've been miserable at this so today I put carrot pieces on the twenty litre drums and on one of the logs surrounding the arena.  Took forever.  He was dozing off in the sunshine.  Kept moving him from drum to drum after waiting patiently until his eyes were closing and it became apparent we weren't going to touch it.  Once he had the first carrot he woke up and looked for the second one.  He even showed some initiative in finding the carrot on the log.

Before turning him out I placed a couple of carrots on the fence and tried to direct him to them while he was at liberty.  Took a while but he got them.  That game will be something fun to try the next time we play.  He'll catch on and have loads of fun finding the treats - and if my reasoning is sound, he'll start to really pay attention to my body language.  Quite looking forward to it actually.  A horsey treasure hunt.

Under saddle we worked on one step for turn on the forehand.  He tends to resist then take too many steps.  Wanted him to listen so that we could get one soft step in either direction.  We improved but that's something that needs work.  Also did alot of transitions from walk to trot to halt to back and combinations thereof.  He was very good.  Very forward.  Tried to get him on the bit, or in this case, on the bridle tracking to the right.  Dismounted when I got one.