Hamster chops.......

This morning with Remy, I continued the work from yesterday. I tried to be very clear and precise when asking him for the transitions, and wanting a quick reaction. It was a good session, he was on the ball but focussed, he remained forward in the walk and I massaged his neck as I walked at his side to try to ease out any resistances and encourage him to relax and stretch down. This helped him to give me a more genuine bend. There's more resistance on the right rein, so something to work on. His transitions to trot were really crisp with energy and he was more responsive on the line.
I took Anky in the school again intending to continue from yesterday. I started on a fairly long rein, trying to encourage her to stretch and relax. She wasn't really with me today but relaxed a little. I tried the exercise from yesterday and although she gave me some reasonable steps, she was still resisting and not entirely happy.  I gave her a very long rein and she immediately stretched down so I asked her to walk on and we spent some time on circles with a nice, easy walk, asking for changes of bend without any resistance. At the end of the session she was very relaxed, the most relaxed she's ever been so I was pretty chuffed.

I got stung twice yesterday on the side of my face, (I think it must have been a wasp because I don't think that bees can sting you twice) and today I look like a bloody hamster with a pouch full of food!! I don't know what it is this year - I've been stung 4 times now, which is probably more than I've been stung in my whole life!