Dodging the rain..........

....this morning with Remy and Anky. I took Remy into the garden to practice our lungeing technique (said in the very loosest of terms!!). I had an "I am totally useless at this" moment when he got confused and instead of walking on he kept coming in to me, but we continued and he did 'get' it and we walked around on both reins. For our next session I will take him up to the school and with Jims help, take him out onto the circle properly.

Anky has a scratch across her back where the saddle would lie, so she's having a couple of days off hacking. I took her up to the school again for a short lungeing session followed by a little in-hand work. This is all experimental for me but I'm taking Trudis advice and I think with a combination of Anky moving better and perhaps me starting to get to grips with it we're making some progress. Today we got some nice steps in shoulder-in and then leg-yield.

I've just put some Himalayan Salt Licks in the stables and Anky spent a good five minutes licking it this morning. She obviously needs it. Bonbon thought she'd like to share!!

Cantique

I was last up this morning, had a lovely lie-in. The horses were all in and breakfast was made. Great.
I took Remy up to the school, he was a little on edge as they'd all come in a little spooked.

He was very good, a short session, no confusion, he got it straight away. Walk on up the long side, I let the lunge line out to a couple of yards (showing my age now) and walked as if lungeing, level with his shoulder/girth, small circles in the corners and off again on the long side. He also kept out of my space today. I was really happy with him.

Jim had other plans so I also took Anky up to the school. I rode her at walk for about 20 minutes. Started on a long rein, encouraging her to stretch out to my hand, lots of changes of rein, walk/halt transitions, then leg yield from the quarter line, into the corner asking for inside flexion, out of the corner to shoulder-in. Trying to keep relaxation and softness. She certainly feels like she's starting to loosen up, less resistance, I hope it's a sign that she's feeling better in herself.

We were invited to a concert this afternoon by a friend who sings in a local choir-Cantique.
We were entertained to an hour of choral music in the beautiful church at
Montbron. The accoustics were perfect and the sound was excellent.

A relaxing hack.

It's nearly 3 weeks since I've ridden, so today I took Corky out on a hack. She is such a good girl, she hasn't been ridden in a long time, she's fat, getting on a bit and a little stiff, but everytime I ride her it reminds me why we have her.

She was so well behaved and we had a lovely relaxing hack. She was soft in my hand, responsive to very light leg aids and we got some nice leg yield and shoulder- in. I took her through the wood and she sometimes get's a little worried and wanting to rush ( I know, hard to believe with Corky!) so I practiced some halts by using my seat and closing my fingers. She responded really well, but then just sat on my hands a little so I asked for halt and then rein-back which lightened her to the hand. She is so tolerant, she does put up with "Mum messing"! I can hear her tutting as I take the tack into the stable, she keeps insisting that she's retired!!

Walk, Trot and Canter........

Another beautiful day today. I took Anky in the school with mixed results. She started off quite good, straight, forward and relaxed. I worked around the perimeter of the school on halt/walk transitions, leg yield, small circles. At one point she was straight and soft enough to ask for a trot transition which was quite good, but then the trot was rushed. As the walk improves, I will start to work more on the walk/trot transitions and work on achieving a slower more relaxed trot.
Meanwhile, the other horses had been turned out and soft lad Remy was calling for his mum, which really distracted her. Having had some nice work in the school, I walked her around the field. As we reached the far end and turned for home, I asked for a couple strides of leg yield and as she softened and relaxed I asked her to canter (couldn't resist it!). We were heading home, so she needed no encouragement, made a nice transition and we cantered up the field. Our first canter - it felt good!!

A mixed bag!

Exactly what I got from Anky today.
I wasn't sure what to expect after her few days off, I was hoping she would be nice and relaxed, but I thought she might be jumpy. She was!
I did a few flexions in the barn before getting on and taking her up to the school, she was very jumpy on the lane going up there and then snorted at the posts laid out around the school for the fence.
I started working on halt-walk-halt transitions, but realized that wasn't going to work, she was too distracted, so we worked on small circles and figure of eights. This calmed her a little and we tried some shoulder in on the right rein which seems to be coming better. We had one or two nice turns around the forehand on the left rein. I was pleased as she has been quite resistant when I've asked for this. She is becoming straighter on the left rein with a much more uniform bend.
Having settled a little, the halts were better and we managed some reasonable halts with immobility so we then practiced the ridden flexions at halt which were quite good.
Having been quite settled, she then saw the neighbours dog in the little wood so, obviously, that was very frightening and every time she had her back to the wood, she tried to leg it up the school. I managed to settle her again by doing small figure of eights, achieving quite good change of bend. As a final exercise I walked her around the perimeter of the school on a longer rein allowing her to stretch (why did I do that???)but, just as we approached the little wood, a dove flew up out of the trees and we were back to jumping and snorting.
The walk back to the stable was done on tippy toes, but we managed some reasonable leg yield up the lane.

Levelling up!!!

Another day in the school today. Anky started off quite restless, but soon settled. We had some very good halts with responsive walk transitions. She was much better on the left rein today and strangely , the flexions today were better to the left than the right. The leg yield from the left leg was much better than our last session and we had some good shoulder in on the right rein. All in all a good session.

The wood for my school fence is all treated and today Jim and Thomas took all the posts up to put them in position for our friend Pascal to push in with his machine.

Anky's coming in season, so was stretching a little this afternoon. I'll see how she is in the morning, I may give her a day off.

Bonbon looks to be levelling up, Yay!!!

Eureka

Beautiful day today, sunny and warm.
I took Anky in the school to continue from yesterday. For the first time I felt that we were on the same wavelength. She was calm and listening. She felt much more relaxed and flexible. The walk was much straighter, fairly good soft halts with good walk transitions. So, I am happy.
We managed some leg yield on both reins. A better feel, yielding away from my right leg, but a definate improvement yielding to the right from my left leg with a much more genuine bend.

Before I took her up to the school I worked on some flexions at halt on the yard, she got it almost immediately. It seems to have transferred to the ridden work and I'm hoping it has sunk in.
She was very relaxed at the end of the session so I took her down the chemin, but her ever so slightly neurotic alter ego took over ;-)
She gets very on her toes, and I do quite like her like that, she becomes very mobile and flexible, but I do wish she wouldn't spook quite so much when she's on her own!!!
Anyway a good day, one or two eureka moments.