Le Puy -

After a week of doing nothing with the horses, we returned to work today in the school.
I took Anky up there first for a short lunge session followed by a little in-hand work. She was pretty relaxed with the lungeing but tense in the in-hand. I'm finding that she relaxes really well when we're inside, but once we get outside in the school she's distracted very easily and the first thing she does then is tense and raise her head. We'll work on it.
The wind had got up a little by the time I took Remy in the school. He was a little distracted by the wind and the toot tooting of a distant chasse horn, but he's such a patient and willing boy and tried to focus. We started with a short lunge session and he was pretty responsive in the transitions. By walking around with him, I find he stays much softer and doesn't hang on the rein, I can try to bend him a little inside, help him relax and encourage a sharper transition. Today the trot was more relaxed and active than it's been and the transitions were better. We then had a short session in-hand including asking him to move individual legs from a light touch of the whip. He's getting better at this, giving me a quicker reaction.



So, after a week off, it all felt a little rusty, but glad to be back doing something.