Day Forty One: It is really hot today, right from the start cause it never cooled off from the night before. It’s 9:00am and Happy is lazy, lazy today. I have to whack him with the end of the rein to keep him loping, and I mean I had to whack him hard. Frustrating as this faze is I know that what he learns in his relaxed state he will retain better so I push on, and keep cluck, kick and whack until he will stay at a lope with a light fanning of my legs. It’s important to note that you what to urge him to keep going with what is comfortable pressure to you , not what the horse thinks. It is really easy to get sucked into this cycle of kicking to just keep him going, this numbs his sides and leg losses it’s meaning. I have found that whacking works well for this lesson. Start out with a tap with the end of the rein on his rump and increase pressure as needed. He may get a little herky jerky at this point just keep loping until he starts listening to the cluck and settles down to lope more freely. I leave their face alone at this point to get the freedom of movement back:0)