The bad, the good and the lovely.

I thought it would be a great idea to give B a change from Follow the Rail in the arena today and saddled up for a walk then ride in the woods. Breeze didn't get calm enough to ride so it turned into a walk in the woods.

She usually settles by the time we get to the top of the old woods but not today. I had to up my game and be extra provocative to try and get B to focus on me and not try to find scary stuff in the bushes. It turned into a great opportunity for me to be a benevolent dictator and be the leader she needed.

I kept her busy all the way to the top of the old woods and back again. Other riders passed us and B stared at them but didn't want to follow. I asked her to do a lot of sideways, yo yo and weave around trees. We stopped for some circle game by the Rangers yard and popped in the 'log trailer' going there and back. I found a spot where her favourite 'sticky buds' grow and I fed them to her and saw her relax a little.
I insisted she walk next to me with zone 2 next to me, something we worked really hard on at Stoneleigh. It didn't mater that I didn't get to ride. What mattered was i was the leader and she could trust me.

Later on, after work we went for a graze near the arena and then play in the arena and it was marvelous. I started off with friendly game and then extreme friendly game which B really hates at the moment. She gets very energetic and right brained which brings her life up too. This is actually quite good to start B off on some circle game and she settled into trot on the circle game for 20 + laps and tonight I noticed she blew out by lap 11 and lowered her head. We got some canter and when she blew up I asked her to go back to trot. Nice. All in all she did a few laps with a few stops. Fig 8 in trot was interesting with B being able to go left well but got sticky on the right side. I really tried to use my body more and not the c/s which helped a lot.

We got some lovely falling leaf, rock slide, sideways, diagonals, all the 'usual' stuff we play with. Great fun. Oh and travelling circles and over a jump, turn and face, wait and over again. I am now thinking I need to add other things to our repertoire but right this minute I can't think what lol.

We did some more lead by the leg which kinda blew B's mind. She is really getting to understand it now. Ended the session there and went back to the courtyard where Sandra and Bert were. We had a bit of a play with both horses up on the pedestals, Sandra holding the lines while I took photos. Bert stood like a rock but B hopped on and off so I had to be quick with the photos. I think they look pretty good side by side.

B did a lot of yawning after I asked her back into her stable. She also chewed on the 22' line as I held it after taking the halter off. I love this side of her coming out. Curiosity is a good thing.