Having a Goal but Changing the Plan!!

I had a plan today to start riding 60 meter circles with Renegade and had everything marked out (I really need a strong visual to make decent circles). Did a short warm up on the ground before mounting up. I got up on the fence rail and asked Renegade over, which he obliged me by coming sideways over to the fence. I love that he gets close so it’s not a stretch for me to get on!! Once I checked our lateral flexion and hq yields, off we went,, walk 5 steps, stop, back up 2 steps (well, that was the plan/pattern anyway!!). Well, our stop was broken so spent a bit of time with this and eventually had Renegade stopping off my seat but not before having to go through the routine of lift the rein and hold while he tried to play his "you’re not going to control my zone 1" game. Had to stick with it long enough to make a change and get him to soften/lighten up. That ate up quite a bit of our riding time so I decided to play with "owning his feet". I had a couple of frisbees and we played with put your left foot here, put your right foot there, all the while playing with our stop!! Renegade got soft, willing, and was stopping off my seat without me having to lift the rein. It was great practice. Tomorrow well play with circles!!