Wow!!!

My Parelli friends Suzanne and Charlotte came to visit yesterday and after my play with B I let Suzy have a play. I felt a little nervous to begin with when I played with B. Watching Suzy I felt a little jealous and clumsy in comparison. I think that's natural tho' and it was absolutely wonderful to see someone else play with my Breeze. I felt proud of all the play with the 7 games we have put in over the last two months to bring B up to the level she is at now. We are now playing with L2/3 online!

Breeze loves to side pass things so much we had the brilliant idea to get Suzy to crouch down and I asked B to sidepass over her! It was wonderful, funny and great. So great we did it twice and video'd it!!! We were all in fits of giggles and B looked very pleased with herself. There will be photos later I promise.

Suzy did a lot of extreme friendly and started the beginnings of backwards by the tail. Lots of circle game and sideways at the trot! Marvelous. We agreed B is confident in the herd and with me but not in herself, which explains her unbalanced trot and canter perhaps. I suspect she has always been like this and now we are on the path to sorting it out.

And then the thing I was dreading...all the way to the yard I felt sick and RB about it, my stomach in knots and my negative thoughts trying to make me weasle out of it.....riding in the arena!!! Not just getting on and doing some ppl but allowing Suzy to play with B online while I just played passenger. I don't have photos yet but I am sure they will make me grin! It was incredible! To begin with I got on slowly and politely even remembering to rest in the saddle before putting my leg over B's back and asking for permission. B had such a lovely expression on her face, it was wonderful to see.

I really tried to stay relaxed and calm and 'go with the flow and flow with the go', 'flo with the go' being what it really was! There were times when I almost panicked, I asked to get off only once at my most RB moment and then suddenly the fear vanished just as I said it and I began to really enjoy the sensation of Breeze moving under me and me going with her no matter which direction it was in lol. I hung on to the front of my saddle trying to leave one hand free to move with B but at times I really felt I had to hang on with both and 'just survive the journey' to begin with! Even so, at no point did I think I wanted or needed to bale out and/or fall off! Such a good experience for me because I still carry an awful lot of bagage from the accident four years ago now.

We did circle game c.o.d. in walk but mostly in trot! I felt how unbalanced B is the same as when we ride in the woods and tried to help her relax and trust herself. There were distractions from the horses out in the field for the night but that didn't bother me at all. I know I have B's trust and we are partners despite her unconfidence.

Sideways was very very weird!! I have never really tried that before. Lizzie and I began that at a clinic last year but she had a lot of difficulty with it. Breeze quite likes sideways and offers it a lot. I did feel B get herself collected trotting on circle game and we had some balanced trot at which point we left it there and I got off.

Breeze was soft and cuddly and I stroked her head and face and left the rope on her withers. She walked next to me at liberty and we played stop and back up all the way to the gate and went back to her stable. Phew.

I never thought this would happen for me either so soon or that it could be such a success. I had no preconceptions about what might happen, I just went in there with an open mind ready to at least try. I have never really done any stuff in the arena. With Lizzie it was all I could do to get on and let her leave. We once got 3/4 of one clover leaf pattern before she decided that was enough and wanted to get the hell out of there. My dreams of riding Freestyle and eventually Finesse are now becoming a reality. I will have to work on myself for this by visualising B and I riding in the arena which is something quite alien for me to do. Usually I only visualise riding in the woods because that's what I know. I had no problem taking B out in a hackamore shortly after she came to me, never even thinking it might be a problem. Now I have to work on thinking the same way about the arena. All I keep thinking is ....... wow!

So thank you Suzy and Charlotte. I had a really great time and learned a lot and really enjoyed your company. But no. you cannot come back with a horsebox and steal Breeze!