Ah, A Taste of Spring

Before Winter Returns.....Again

Lovely day today except for the lack of real sunshine.

The ring footing was great, so I had a nice school on Tucker. Quite an improvement since yesterday's work since he was far more willing to carry himself. He kept his head down on all his canter departs and only laid his ears back once when I put on some really strong aids to get him to turn correctly.

It will be interesting to see what Patrice Edwards has to say about his training. I haven't had a lesson in months, and my primary input has been from Chris, so having another set of eyes and perspective to give us feedback will be great.

I then rode Chance. He is a riot. I got on, headed round the arena, and as soon as we reached the gate to the trail, he stopped, didn't want to turn away and just kept insisting we go out. That was not the plan as I wanted to school him a bit. I think he heaved a big sigh of resignation and off we went around the ring.

Today turned into a steering lesson. He really likes to take the bit on the right side and try to yank it out of my hand. And he is very reisistant to turning in that direction. Fortunately, we only had one moment of concern when I didn't react fast enough and he almost hit the fence by the woods, but after that, I stayed ahead of his reactions and kept him mostly where I wanted him to be. I had forgotten how frustrating babies can be when they just don't understand how to stay in balance.

The trot, at first, was fast and forward, but I just let him go. The nice thing was that, except for when he was flailing out against the rein, he was keeping his head down. It's not going to take long to fix most of the basic problems. In the meantime, he is really fun to ride and has a super attitude about being corrected or asked to do something my way instead of his.

Once I finished with Chance, I saddled up Toby for a short school. It is so nice to get on a horse and know my aids are going to work. Both Chance and Tucker were very interested in what I was doing and hung at the fence by the gate watching Toby's every move. So, I told Tucker to watch and in each direction of canter, aske Toby to do a flying change. Master that he is, he gave me two perfect ones, exactly where I wanted them, precisely where Tucker could get a good view. I don't know if we left and impression, but he was definitely watching as I told him that was something he was going to have to learn how to do.

All in all, it was a good riding day. Good, as well, because there may be snow tonight and the next two days are supposed to be cold again.

Guess I will be shivering at the clinic. It is not supposed to be much warmer on Tuesday.

Yuck. Winter wouldn't be so bad if spring weather didn't keep teasing us.