HIS BRAIN IS BACK...SORT OF.

So today I brought Cruizer in and let him hang out in his stall for awhile and eat hay before I got him out. I then let him loose in the indoor and OMG was he hyper. He was running, bucking, leaping, lead changing, and jumping over invisible jumps all over the place. After awhile he got tired of that and just stood around so I brought him back in the barn and tacked him up. Then he went on the lunge line for a good twenty five minutes because he found the energy to be TERRIFIED of the lead rope. Seriously Cruizer? I have no idea why, but any time I would walk towards him with the lead rope he would try to run away. Sooooo we spent about ten minutes re-teaching him that lead ropes are a part of every day life, and they will not hurt you. It finally clicked and he's like OH I GET IT. THAT'S A LEAD ROPE. ahhhh four year olds. gotta love 'em. When I got on he was a little tense, as usual, but warmed out of it right away. He wasn't quite as lazy as yesterday, but still pretty lazy. His trot work was excellent. We made it around the whole arena again! Yay for small victories. He was lazy about picking up the canter again, I think I'm going to throw some little english spurs on just to kick this habit before it gets to be a real habit (not picking up the canter the first time I ask for it). His canter was really good. We did lots of transitions, which are getting better for him all the time. His brakes from the canter are excellent. He did arch up to buck one time, but when I scolded him (verbally only) he forefited and went on. Going to the left he didn't want to stay on the rail at all. This is an old issue he had over the summer that we really schooled and it went away, but its creeping up again. Some schooling and overbending him to the outside got him to get his ass back up on the rail and he went around nicely after that. His left canter was unusually good. That lead has always been tougher for him, but it was actually better than the right lead today. Overall he was really good. He "spooked" one time, the extent of which was surging a bit at the trot and lifting his head slightly. It only took minor correction to get him back to work. I hope he stays this sane... I will be riding again tomorrow so we will see. Oh, and I rode in the western bit again today.