Happy horse, happy human.

I thought it would be fun to show the trails in the sand of the arena from our play this morning.  As you can see in the above photo B's left turn on the fig 8 is wider...

...than the right turn. I was standing (and running) on the other side of the cones from where the photos were taken. It's certainly starting to look fluid now. You can see in the background the circle left in the sand from our 20+ laps in trot both ways on the circle game. Very nice it was too.
I keep finding I am smiling to myself a lot these days when we play. I smile because I know how good it's getting. Can't help myself lol. We played for about 30 minutes, interspersing each game with a rest/scratch and sometimes a treat. Great jumping which seems like it makes B happy. I love to see 'that' look on B's face. Eyes bright and I get both eyes and ears.
We left the arena to get saddled up and all of a sudden B seemed to have gone introverted and didn't look bright and happy. I had a brainwave and took her back to outside the arena to graze and just chill while Sandra and Bert warmed up in the arena. Turned out to be the best thing to do and pretty soon her attitude changed and all seemed well in her world again.

I got on from the right side for the first time in weeks. I think B is getting used to the idea. She didn't have any thresholds leaving the yard and wanted to eat quite a bit at the beginning of the mile and 1/4. Having spent the week since my lesson with Claire thinking things over about my fears really helped it turns out because I stayed calm and didn't let any bad thoughts creep in. Consequently we had a great ride and I really thought we had a great partnership. B hardly spooked at all. She maintained gait and direction and when the horses needed to move their feet we had some great trotting. I was almost tempted to canter which is a good sign Best of all B led the way for a good part of the ride and we got so far in front we didn't see Sandra and Bert for ages. B stayed calm and just kept going. Brilliant!

Since I re-shimmed my saddle pad I noticed my hip and leg have stopped hurting. Woohoo! B seems happy with it too. Everything just seems to be falling into place.

Tuesday someone I became friends with on the Flex Track course is coming over to come play/ride in the woods with B and I. I am very excited about this. Blog and pictures to follow!