Maraschino and the circle

I played with Maraschino tonight - about 6pm it was a bit cooler (it hasn't been cooling down at night the last few weeks but tonight was just nice - just right).

I decided I was going to get Maraschino confident enough on the circle to relax on it - not ask to come in and to relax. At trot.

We started off ok - he stopped at the pole and tried to paw it. Off we went again - send again - and he kept asking to come in before a full circle. I gently asked him out again every time. We also backed up a bit each time too so rather than getting closer he was getting farther away.

It took about an hour, and in that hour he; reacted to the carrot stick being lifted gently off the ground to 'send' by running away, rearing, - or should I say over re-acting. At one time he pulled back so hard I couldn't hold on the rope and it dropped to the ground. He didn't go far - just a few steps and then stopped at snorted at the rope on the ground in front of him and snorted at it.

He reared about 4 times I think - just little ones, usually changing directions at the same time. Then each time I just resent. Not sure if that was the right thing to do or not - but I did.

Then I asked him to change directions each time he went over the pole, and turn face and wait. Then we tried circle again. Finally he did a few nice circles - lovely curved body, nice trot. I asked for canter and he did the most beautiful upwards transition, he canter about half a circle and I asked him in. He seemed pretty pleased with himself. I let him rest for a bit.

As soon as he got distracted and looked elsewhere I sent him on a circle again.

So - by the end he was circling fairly calmly.

Tomorrow I hope the relaxation will come.