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Back in the school with Remy today in his newly fitted saddle. We've taken away the thick Suber Pad and now have a good, thick cotton numnah in it's place. It's weird, but, despite the fact that it always felt like a compromise, that thick Suber pad gave me the feeling that I was protecting his back. Ridiculous, as now we have a well fitting saddle without the need for a thick pad for protection. I have to trust that the saddle fitter knows his job and I do, but........  why the little niggly doubt? The control freak in me, I suppose.
Anyway, back to our session.
I lunged him for a short time on each rein and then got on. My aim was to let him walk, find his balance, get used to the new saddle fit, and to basically see how he felt. He seemed relaxed and happy to walk out, a nice swing and good long strides. He felt easy, on a long rein, stretching down well over his neck.
I then asked for halt, took up the reins to ask him to give his mouth, asking for flexion to each side and then letting him extend his neck. My priority was to keep him soft in my hand, mobile in his jaw and relaxed through his neck. I moved him around the school, changing the rein often through small circles and serpentines, using halts, reinback, moving his shoulders and quarters, all the time trying to keep this softness and relaxation.
I was really pleased with the session, he was more consistently soft and relaxed, he was attentive and he was responsive to my leg.
This afternoon we went up to the top field to check it out with a view to refencing it so that the horses can graze in there. It's one of the fields that we keep for hay making, but, as a really well draining, dry field we want to use it to supplement our winter grazing. We're going to leave the outer fence intact as I don't want to cut down the various trees and bushes growing in and around it, and bring a new fence inside. Just more work for Jim, as you can imagine he's ecstatic!!