A thousand promises that never seemed to help me before

I've decided in an effort to spice up my posts, I'm going to title them with random excerpts from songs. Deal with it. ;)

Overall, I was really pleased with the way tonight's lesson went. He was a little lazy (which I'd much, MUCH rather him be as opposed to say, wound) and was very calm by his standards during our patterns. His stops at the end of each one were GORGEOUS - it was like he melted into the ground and when he stopped, he stood there calmly and quietly - something I've pretty much NEVER known him to do. He was a little more tense walking up to start the pattern, but I had him stand before and he settled nicely. He even kept his cool when Darryl went off his rocker when a man in a wheelchair went past (he hates anything with wheels). But this brings me to a new predicament: how can I sharpen up his responses without sacrificing the solid, calm horse that he's become?

I think that my plan for this will be to adopt Mugwump's strategy: if he starts to die on me/takes too much time in a transition, I'm going to offer him a chance before upping the ante. Say he starts to die in the jog; I'll offer a squeeze, then roll my heel into him, and if I still get nothing, I'll give a kick.

If he takes too long in a transition, I'm going to try going about it a little differently. I'll cue him, then roll my heels into him, and if I don't get an immediate response, I'll bring him back down and make him do it again (usually for the lope).

The plan for tomorrow, I think, is to work him one day - paying special attention to laziness/transitions, reverse, and then walk for a bit before going to the trail ring to work on some obstacles. I think I'm going to really take my time having him stand and relax at each possible one, and if Connie is there I may even set up the gate if things are going well - probably not though.

Something else I want to do is neaten up our simple changes. He'll do them fine at shows, same as going into a lope, but at home it's a little sloppy and I want to neaten it up. I'll apply my strategy for slowing down/breaking to the simple change; I'll offer the cue for the lead, roll my heel and then kick.

I was also playing around with the idea of using a cluck for the lope - jog transitions. I think I'm going to stick with that and have him learn it, because it's more professional and less noticeable in the show ring. I haven't been very consistent about it, so I'll try to keep at that until it becomes an ingrained habit in the both of us.

I'll post tomorrow after our ride =) Later!
Sarah

ETA: I talked to the boss lady, and the verdict is in: I'm going to try reining this weekend! Should be interesting if nothing else ;)