I played with Avery today. I've been trying to lead from zone 3 for awhile now(zone 3 is the middle of the horse, between the withers/shoulder, and the hindquarters). It's really an interesting thing to do with your horse instead of lugging him everywhere. You reveal thresholds because they're "leading" and your sort of guiding, just as you would be from the saddle.

Anyways, I've had a really hard time keeping Avery motivated to keep moving forward while i stay in zone 3.

Today I realized that first I need to get him to walk with me. And arrive with me. So...we just walked. I walked very intently, and had an objective to arrive somewhere with a plan. Anywhere. And he stepped up his pace, and I actually saw some energy come up in him, and an interest in what we were doing! After awhile, I was leading from zone 3 with lots of motivation from Avery. It was VERY cool for me.

Avery is a horse that is extreamly difficult to keep motivated to do ANYTHING! I've realized(now...after having done things much differently, and quite unaffectivly) that once you engage his mind in something he will put in all his effort.

I also brought out our excersize ball to play with. We played lots of friendly game(approach and retreat), and then the yoyo game. I would back him up past it, then ask him to come forward in front of it, causing him to "bring" the ball to me. By the end of the day we were playing with the ball at liberty. It was a pretty good day.