CAAANTERRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

I got to the yard pretty late this evening to find Sandra had tacked Bertie up and was going to ride in the woods. I asked her to wait while I went to find Breeze out in the field and have her catch me. I gave her a tiny bit of dinner and then got the saddle out. She didn't seem particularly happy about it and decided she didn't want to have the saddle on her back or be ridden. Saddling was ok but she was decidedly grumpy and didn't want to stand still for me to get on. I asked her to circle but she got very RB and resistant, definitely a bit of dominant behaviour, head up staring at me and pulling back on the rope so I upped my energy a little and spanked the ground with the rope and she was off! I stood in neutral and almost instantly she stopped being snotty and settled into a nice walk with some change of direction. Cool.

She stood still for me to get on but as we set off out of the little courtyard she was quite jittery and unsettled. Before my ppl with Suzy the other day (thanks again Suzy!) I would have been usettled by this but tonight I just soothed her and scratched her neck and gave her time to think about things and be a partner instead.

We had a pretty good start in the woods. Breeze seemed less sensitive hoof wise and after her massage she felt more supple too. She stopped a few times . . . I think she was testing me by doing this. Stopping to look to see if there was anything to spook at. I only had to lift the rope once and ever so, ever so gently, slap myself on the shoulders and she was off again. I peddled my feet and moved my upper body with her and we were soon past the golf course and on to the mile and 1/4.

Sandra suggested we trot and Breeze trotted beautifully and I was really relaxed and happy. We have really got it together now lol. It's almost as if I just think 'trot' and we are. Brilliant. Anyway, about halfway along I let Breeze go past Bertie and we trotted ahead. Sandra had said Bertie was very LB and didn't want to do much and we soon were quite far ahead.

I wondered if I could remember how to ask for canter, sat back, upped my life and all of a sudden we were cantering! Just like that! Breeze slowed to a trot at a bend and then I thought ok, let's ask again. Off we went in canter. Faster and faster went Breeze and it was like a dream. I could hear her hoof beats on the ground and I relaxed into the movement and grinned.

Breeze went faster and faster and it was then I realised we were coming to the end of the mile and 1/4 and a sharp 90 degree bend was coming up fast and Breeze showed no sign of stopping! I felt my legs shorten and the stirrups almost slip away. Oh s**t I thought and tried a one rein stop . . . nothing! So I grabbed B's mane in my right hand and pushed down on her neck pulling the left rein round as hard as I could and Breeze slowed to a trot and then stopped just before the bend!

I looked back down the bridle path to see Sandra trotting towards us grinning. She said, when she caught us up, that Bertie didn't want to canter and as B and I had disappeared in a cloud of dust she knew we had cantered off and she would find us eventually.

I was laughing and praising B and wondering how we had managed this impromptu canter so soon in our relationship lol. I aked B to carry on and she wanted to trot really fast (she was still a little excited) but it was too energetic and not calm so I asked her to walk which she did quite happily. We led the way back to the car park and then we crossed together back to the yard.

I am in shock! Happy shock! I never thought we were ready (or should I say, I didn't think I was ready?) to canter and not out in the woods either. But it just felt right. Had I planned it I probably would have been anxious and therefore made a mess of it. My goodness but Breeze can move! I have never ridden a Thoroughbred before, all my experience has been on old horses, mostly Cobs except for the quarter horse I fell off in Montana lol. Lizzie would only canter, if she really felt like it. This is a revelation and I love it!!!