Gentle Work in the School.

In the school again with Anky. She was a little more relaxed today, it was very hot so started with leading work, halts, change of direction to get her to focus on me. She followed my movements very well, at one point from standing facing her in halt I moved sideways crossing my legs and she followed my movements by moving sideways and crossing her front legs.

So I'd got her to focus on me and she was relaxed so I got on. I wanted to work on the lateral stretching on a loose rein first and she was ok on the right rein, still reluctant on the left. I worked on flexion at the halt, followed by the transition to walk, then stretching out to my hand, good on the right rein.

On the left rein I wanted to try to mobilise the inside shoulder. At halt I asked for flexion to the left, transition to walk, moving the inside shoulder to the right, she finds this difficult, but after a few attempts she improved a litle. Then, I asked for flexion to the left into a turn around the forehand, a better feel in the outside rein, try to keep this walking forward retaining flexion left. We finished with stretching on a long rein, with improvement to the left.

A very gentle and rewarding session. It's basic work, but I think it's the key to obtaining relaxation of the jaw, eliminating the tension I feel in every session.