This week started off a bit trying & finished quite nicely.
We added spurs for the first time this week. That went well; no issues as far as being worried about them.
At the beginning of the sessions, he would still want to be pretty heavy when flexing. When I introduced Bend at the Walk with spurs, he wanted to snatch his head back pretty quickly & drift to the outside rather than truly follow his nose. Those things aren't uncommon when teaching this exercise for the first few times, but Max had another layer of heavy & not taking things very seriously on top of that.
It took lighting a little fire underneath of him by loping circles & getting him to take the spur & rein pressure seriously.
Things really clicked for him towards the end of Thursday's session & improved even further during Friday's short, warm, & windy session. He's steering really well at the trot & lope. I'm quite impressed with that at this stage. His Bend at the Walk has improved dramatically as well.
Next week, we'll keep improving upon Bend at the Walk & add in Bending Transitions, Vertical Flexion at the Standstill, & Draw to a Stop.
I anticipate getting out of the arena the following week. I foresee Max being a grass snatcher, so it's important that I have things pretty light & responsive as I see a lot of people dull young horses when they go outside for the first few times & aren't quite as assertive outside the arena as they are inside.
Next week's update will be posted Thursday night/Friday.