Post from Sunday's ride; June 3rd

I wish I could say I had a good ride with Kramer and I did, eventually.  But it was a lot of work and took great restraint on my part to not lose my temper with Kramer's very bad attitude at being ridden.  His attitude was meant to intimidate me and to get me off his back.
I'll admit that he was partially successful in that after being lunged and I got on his back, he did his "mule act" where he refuses to go forward and throws his head up as if preparing to rear.  I kept him circling and moving his feet while asking for him to move by bumping him with my english spurs.  He finally relinquished and moved forward, but he did so while putting his head down and beginning to crow hop.  That's when I'd had enough of his blatant misbehavior.  I did dismount, but only to change bits (to a snaffle) and tie the reins to the stirrup leathers (in order to keep his topline level-not for punishment)and lunged him again, but this time, keeping him in the canter for most of the 2nd lunge.
After about another 15 or so minutes, I got on him again and asked for him to move forward.  I would say that this time the main difference was that I was not tentative in how I asked him to move forward and I did make sure that the spurs were bumping his sides and not just my boot heels.  Kramer did a sidepass to the spur touches but did trot off.  After that, I had no misbehavior from him.  I actually had a good ride after all the drama.
If we didn't have truck business today, I would've gone out and ridden again, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow (Tuesday) for that.  I don't expect the same kind of stubbornness from K, but if I do, I'll go into "trainer mode" and be calm yet assertive in what I expect.  I'll be using the western saddle and martingale to start with.
Picture of Kramer before first lunge:

He was just chillin'; I thought it would be a relatively easy day...mistake!
Below are pictures from after our second lunge and ride:

We were both pretty whipped at this point, but he was the one who got the lukewarm rinse off a good long drink, a grain/beet pulp snack, alfalfa and a fan blowing in his big, clean stall while I was still sweaty, exhausted and hungry!