Three B's.

We have had a very interesting day today! Firstly the horse that showed up today was hormonal Breeze. It appears she is in season again and only has eyes for Brown Bertie. We went for a graze around that yard and BB (Brown Bertie) was turned out in the school. B spent a lot of the time squirting him and then eating grass. So I played 'go and eat here' and was very particular about where she went. Nice to know and reassuring that she will listen and be a partner even tho she is governed by her hormones.

I tied B up outside her stable as usual and did some chores. She backed into her stable while I went to get water buckets filled. I came back and was just lifting the bucket from my wheelbarrow, when B pulled back on her line and it had caught on the bottom bit of the door latch. She freaked of course but it was too tight to undo the daisy chain and it seemed to take ages to undo and free her! B had gone completely RB and reared up when I freed her from the pressure so I quickly asked her out of her stable and it was obvious she needed to move her feet. So we went for a fast trot together around the yard with some yield your HQ thrown in and wait by the arena gate for both of us to calm down.

In the arena I was careful not to bring her energy up any more but needed to warm up strong to ride soft so we did one and a half of the sides in sideways and then I played some more yield your HQ. Yo yo was pretty good and travelling circles were lovely but as usual she decided she couldn't circle if I stood still and started stop then to try and back up. This time I brought her in and played porky with her HQ having her circle very closely to me by holding the line v close to the snap and asking her to go around me until she was set up. Then I let the line out slowly to make the circles bigger. We then had very nice circle game in walk and trot with c.o.d and I finished it there.

Saddling up was fab! So was getting on. Nice! And there was Nicky all ready to come out with Sandra and I on BB. I found the sensation of riding a mare who is squirting her chosen paramour very odd. She did this once or twice during the ride. She tried to nap half heartedly before we left the yard but I guess because I don't argue with her she doesn't put much energy into it.

We had a great ride with some trot. B was pretty focussed on me considering BB was with us lol. She was a little tense and not really looking where she was going to begin with until she found the ground at the beginning of the mile and 1/4 a bit ouchy. Then she had to look where she was going a little more carefully. All three horses got a bit scared by the Viaduct as there is building work going on. Three 'Portacabins' have sprung up behind fences and lots of scary stuff. We respected their thresholds and it only took three goes of approach and retreat before the horses could go past. It occurs to me now perhaps next time I should ask B to turn away immediately she stops, instead of letting her stand for a while and it be her choice to turn? I don't know about that one.

I offered Sandra a small ride around the yard to see how different B is compared to Bertie. It was interesting for me to see how Sandra couldn't let the reins be loose as riding Parelli freestyle is radically different from micro managing the traditional way Sandra is used to. I took the lead line so Sandra felt B couldn't run away with her. I liked seeing how B responded to the slight lift of the reins to turn. Looks like I am teaching her well lol. That's always gratifying.

Oh and I have put a bit of baling twine higher up on her stable door now so we won't have yet another episode of line caught on latch. Phew. I am pretty stupid sometimes! Have I learned my lesson in safety now?