Sorry for the terrible photo but Breeze hasn't got the hang of a steady walk yet lol. (I suspect the camera on my new phone is nowhere near as good as the previous model). Yesterday was a pretty good day. Played with B on the ground in the woods and Sandra and Bert met us after their lesson. Breeze stood over the log while I got on which was excellent. We went around the old woods and home.
I had a great day at work and then back to the yard where I tried to delay the evening ride by going home to get my riding boots I had forgotten! Sandra was having none of it so I rode in my walking boots which was pretty nice.
To my great surprise we went all the way around the woods with Breeze alternating being confident and going in front to breathing fast and getting unconfident and asking Bert to lead. She is very curious about everything and not argumentative in the least. She just needs time to think about things sometimes.
This morning B didn't look rideable so we went for a play in the school with her saddle on before I got on. She is much less impulsive on the circle game now and no longer blows up. She also stops and comes in behind me which is quite funny so I stroke her, say thanks and send her out again.
Today she had her 'I am not listening to you and I will just run' head on. I let her trot for a while in traveling circles and then I stood still and asked her circle around me and then to change direction a few times. She is prone to making assumptions and tries to guess which way to go around. So I slowed it down and sent her to the end of the 22' line, wait and then ask for the direction I want and back it up with the c/s. Nice snappy send. I made the COD's shorter each time so it was just a 1/4 of a circle and in no time at all her head came down and she blew out, her expression softened and she could walk. We ended it there.
She stood completely still for me to get on from my steps and didn't walk off so we had a nice chill out and waited for Sandra to get on Bert and off we went. . . . . twice around the woods! Left along the mile and 1/4, along the 'uppy downy' bit, then the viaduct, up the straight, left at the old woods, right along the viaduct and back again. We stopped where the old woods meets the straight and Breeze looked up the straight and I knew she was thinking 'but that's the way home'. After a short wait she carried on and we caught up with Sandra and Bert. On the 'uppy downy' bit we trotted but as B is taller than Liz was I kept banging my head on the overhead branches and I could feel B was getting unconfident which made her go faster and faster and me get unconfident too. So I one rein stopped her, bumping into Bert who acted as a block lol. Our roles are reversed these days. Lizzie and I used to do this for Sandra when she first got Bert.
We walked the rest of the way back along the mile and 1/4 with both horses snacking along the way. Breeze was totally relaxed while my thigh muscles screamed in protest! I got off with difficulty, you lose fitness in 5 months. We hosed the horses off . . . it was about 26c by then and let them graze around the yard for a while before going back to the stable.
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