OZZIE Saturday morningGroundwork: Walk in circle on loose lead rope.
When Oz looks away or looses focus, slap my boot with end of rope to get his attention back on me.
If he trots, bring him back to walk asap.
Continue till he can do circle in walk without getting distracted.
Do on other rein.
Do in walk & trot.
Do in different parts of the arena.
As the background to this, one of the biggest things I need to fi with Oz is having his mind with me & focused on what I ask him to do. He's a clever horse, so once you do something a few times, he has it learned, then does it on autopilot and his mind wanders away over the hills. When his mind is three fields away, he then tends to mess about, get opinions, etc and things start to go a bit downhill. So he can do lots of moves & stuff, but I need to work on getting his focus with me (not over the ditch, him not being asleep and only half doing stuff, and him not messing about) cos then once we've that I'll have a top little horse.
After exercise........................
Stand in front of Oz who is wearing a bridle & bit.
Hold both sides of the bit (its a rockin S french link)
Bring bit forwards and hopefully Oz will also step forwards with it. if he doesn't, ask him to walk on a little to the side instead of straight forwards to get him going.
When he's walking nicely and not leaning on the bit, have your hands really gentle on the sides of the bit. When he leans on the bit as you walk (you can really feel it in your hands as he pushes on you) firm up your hands and arms, physically don't let him lean, and stay lie this until he softens, then go back to just barely holding the bit again very softly. So when he leans on bit, you firm up your hands, when he relaxes and is very soft/light on the bit (no pushing through it) your hands are really light too.
Turning on the ground:
In a bridle.
Stand just in front of the shoulder area. One arm over neck to other side, and hold far rein loosely upwards.
With the hand on the side you are standing on, hold bit of start of cheek piece attached to the leather, lift it up and then use it to ask for a little turn. You do not want head to tilt and to only get the nose to tip around. Instead you want the horses eyes to stay level (no tilt in head) and the whole head to come a little over to the side you're standing at.
When you've got this, release.
If horse has tense neck muscles / short neck thing going on, stand at one side of horse, lift head up high, the sideways high, then ask horse to lower his head right down low & stretch it out but a slight downwards cue on bit in hand nearest to you.
Riding: 
Background: He rides nicely in the halter, but I've done very little with him in the bit. He's never really been taught how it works (eg. follow where the bit goes, rather than leaning on it and pushing it) which he probably picked up from before I got him. So for this clinic I wanted to ride him in a bit the whole time and try to get it better and get him to understand how it works.
Walk in a straight line.
To ask Oz to turn, don't use any backwards pull. Think hand up and slightly out. if you pull back in a turn you'll create a brace you don't want. You want to keep things soft & relaxed instead.
To backup, first think about changing horses balance so more weight is on his back feet. Do this by lifting your hands to ask for weight to come off his front feet. Then ask for back by you moving your body backwards. See if you can do it from a thought.
OZZIE Saturday afternoonGW: Circle in the not so popular end of the paddock where he's a little more on edge.
Do unusual GW patterns which are not predictable. This fella is so clever he can do fancy moves on autopilot, but while you've got his feet, you have not got his mind which with Oz is more important.
Bridle on. I stand on front of Oz and holds the sides of the bit. Walk forwards, stop, turn, backup. If he pushes, brace against him. once he relaxes I soften up too immediately too.
Do turn again from the ground as previously described.
Did a few neck stretches.
Not bad at all
OZZIE Sunday morningBrought him out.
Was listening more than Saturday.
When attention is lost, instead of making noise (slapping my boot which got him trotting yesterday) instead I am to give Oz a different job to do asap. Slapping boot was panicking him a bit.
Worked very well. So when he looks outside arena, I turn him, do a HQ yield, walk to me, change gait - slow walk to fast walk, etc. Again, mix it up so he can't predict what I will ask him.
Sometimes instead of giveing out to the horse for doing the wrong thing, it can work much better to give the horse an incompatible behaviour to do to refocus him. So if he's looking outside the arena to the west, immediately get him to do a HQ yield and then walk him off towards the east. So you get him back listening to you, without the raising of any emotions in the horse.
So if Oz comes out either up on his toes, or comes out half asleep, neither are any good. I need to get him into the middle ground of having energy but also having his mind focused on me.
Also, don't ask for too much. When he's trying hard, reward it.
Go back to the simple manouvres in walk until his mind is totally with me.
Don't let patterns become predictable cos he can do the fancy stuff on autopilot and his mind can still be 2 miles away which will lead to messing about down the line.
RidingWalk in a straight line.
Ask for turn by raising hand up.
Wait like this till whole heads softens and comes around a little.
Be precise. Get quality. This means I have to concentrate VERY hard!
Then relax and go in straight line to next place.
Repeat. MUCH better.
Don't let him push me about even a little. He still does from time to time.
It's not about the movements. Its about having Oz's mind. Just focus on getting that. Doing basic stuff, but no predictable stuff when he can zone out on.
Oz Monday morningGW: When he looses attention on me, give him a different job ASAP.
Best yet!
RidingWalk around, turn head using tiny rein up cue. Keep it very small, only use more if you need it.
Release when neck & head turns then walk on in a straight line again.
OZZIE Tuesday morningGW: Horse next door messing about, so worked to get Oz focused back on me. Went very well.
Head bit in my hands, walked around. Better & lighter.
Asked for turn by lifting and turning bit to one side on the ground.
RidingWalk straight line. Ask very gently for little turn. Once got it, walk on again.
Repeat.
If Oz wants to look left, ask him to turn right.
To go backwards, 1st lift up horses front end, then ask horse to go back.
Oz Tues afternoonDon't let him lean on me.
GW: Focus on me, ne job if he looks elsewhere or mind wanders
GW: Took bit in hands and walked and steered him around. Better.
Turn with bit - on the way.
Riding:Walk straight line.
Ask for little turns using little pressure as possible.
Lift hand up for the turn. (no backwards pull)
Once you get it, drop & release.
When gettign good, ask for turn, then when you get it, release, but ask again asap once you move it - so bulding up turn for a few steps of a circle. Oz tends to relax his jaw & soften his whole body when this happens
Then relax, and walk on it straight line again.
YAY! A good little horse
Wednesday morning at homeHad 10 mins before I went back to Dublin, so caught him and focused on having his atention with me all the time. When he loked away, I gave him a new job in the opposite direction. Very good!
Nice work. 
Did some good patting / desensitisation all over. 
