Slowly but surely

After the Ed clinic my game plan was to not worry about the speed but focus on correct.  After all if you can't turn them it doesn't matter HOW fast you run, not to mention he is still a fat little pony lol

I missed getting qualified for provincial finals but managed to get enough jackpots in to qualify for our district finals (barely!)  We went to a double header that my friend Jewls hosted, didn't place but he worked nicely.  Then I hosted two double headers.

(actually three but I didn't ride in the first one)

Our first runs at home were good.  Not fast but nice and correct.  He did try to stiffen up on me a bit but nothing horrible.  However... Mr. Hotshot "I-think-I'm-an-NFR-horse" decided he wanted to be a drama queen at the gate. 
He has, on a very few occasions, gotten a bit goofy at the gate.  Acting like he doesn't want to go in and prancing around.
I know a lot of people think that's resistance because they're sore or burnt out.  And for some horses it is, but not for all.  When Voodoo gets like this it's usually because he's so eager to get into the arena it's like his brain is misfiring and not giving directions to his body properly lol

This time when he got gate goofy it was a bit different, he actually popped up a bit with me a few times.  As a matter of fact he was a bit high strung all night.  After our run in the first jackpot I took him over to the barrel patch to lope some circles and play with him to see if he had his brain on. 
He was listening, he'd bend and flex, change direction and speed as I asked.  But holy heck... when he was "loping" those circles, it felt like the verge of a runaway.  He felt almost panicky he was so hot and on the muscle.  I would have been scared actually, but every time I asked for anything I got it. 
Since his gate antics were a bit different than his normal silliness, and he was so hot & bothered,  I was considering that he might be sore, but he didn't feel off AT ALL and the energy I was getting from him was just "Let me GOOOO" so go we did.  Once he went through the gate he took off for 1st like his tail was on fire (keep in mind, that's still not very fast... fat, out of shape, shorty horse lol).  We had a really nice run, as in the quality of the turns not the speed. ;)  And again, no money.
My friend JL and I were joking around that Voodoo was acting like a "crazy barrel horse" because I'd FINALLY gotten around to putting his bling breastcollar & headstall on lol

This past Monday night we had our last double header.  Well, last to qualify... I'm hoping to host more jackpots this year now that I got my birthday present :D
Voodoo was really calm and relaxed.  I kinda think he didn't realize it was a jackpot lol

(pretty low turnout, only 12 open entries and 3 youth)

He warmed up really nice and easy.  He stayed relaxed in his lope circles but had more speed if I asked for it (and he remained calm). 
When we went in the arena for our run there was just the teeniest hesitation and he went in, he seemed almost surprised when I put my hands forward to let him run lol. 
I was sooo happy with our run.  The time sucked but his turns were soft and fluid.  He went where I asked, when I asked and with flex (he had been pretty stiff before our clinic).
We didn't place in the first jackpot but we "won" 3D in the second.  Just don't tell Voodoo that we only won because everyone else in 3D either no-timed or hit barrels ;)  I'm not going to complain though, I finished with some money.