Stupid Pills

Some days... I swear Cash must eat stupid pills for breakfast. Arrrgg!

He has this corner, that he can, and will be, just plain stupid about!! It seems like it's every other day too. What's frustrating is that you can walk him over there, you can lunge him in that corner, and he's perfectly behaved. But... when you ride him all of a sudden it's full of horse eating boogey monsters and must be avoided at all costs.  Sigh.

At least you can feel it coming a mile away, he may have a spook in him, but it's so very predicable. Thank goodness.

I know what the root of the problem is: he just plain doesn't understand leg-into-hand yet. He doesn't even fully understand staying in front of the leg for that matter, he wants to suck back and dink around with his hind end unengaged, and when that happens he can spook and spin. He's also still learning how to move off the leg, well more specifically how NOT to fall in on his inside shoulder instead of standing up around the turn. So he's against my leg, behind my leg, and no where near to being on the bit.

Really, I need to completely ignore the spook and that corner and just focus on those training basics listed above, but I have a haaaarrrrd time not wanting to get after him for acting so stupid, especially when I know he's not truly scared, he's just playing a game.

I think I really just need to back off, stay away from that end of the arena for while, avoid that conflict, and work on those training principles, and when he's more solid we can confront that stupid-horse-syndrome inducing corner.