February 18, 2009

Day in the Sunshine

Went down to Battle Hill today to give the greenies a bit of an outing in the sunshine. They all loaded well, and travelled well (okay, it's only 2km - but still!). Hopped on Devon first, he hadn't sweated up in the truck which is good for him. He was great standing at the side door for me to climb on too.
Devon is working really nicely under saddle now. He still gets a bit lazy and/or tired and will express this in either getting behind the vertical a bit, or lacking impulsion. A tap as a reminder seems to get him back on track though. I'm pleased with his transitions too.
His head comes up a bit in his canter work still, but as he's not all that fit yet I'm not too worried about it. It'll certainly come in time. He's consistently striking off on the correct lead now too.
Bonus pics of Devon being so damn laid back! We did a few canter circles without reins, he's so cute - I don't even think he changed pace! He was starting to get a sweat on in the heat so I popped him away.
Princess has come along heaps since her last time out at Battle Hill. She's way less spooky, and was happy to go pretty much anywhere I pointed her.
She's still not working into a contact. I have tried pretty much everything in my bag of tricks for getting a horse to accept the contact and absolutely nothing is even making an impact. I am wondering if perhaps there is pain somewhere? Though she is showing no other signs of pain or discomfort. So for the moment, she is going very kindly on a loose contact - and I will just keep trying to ride her forward and see what happens.
She was super with the water this time too! Headed straight into the creek, and then popped off the little drop after just a few very minor fusses.
A small sniff was all we had to contend with to get her over the scary bridge too. I was stoked with that, as it's pretty spooky. She even trotted over it with no worries. Her owner is considering doing some CTR rides, so hopefully the exposure to different things will make her a more enjoyable ride at those meets.
Poor Grace had been tied to the truck this whole time, so she only had about a 10 minute ride as I figured she had been doing enough just standing in the sun.
She's really listening to me so much more. I rode her in Violet's bit at Masterton (loosering rubber mullenmouth snaffle) and she went fab in it. The french link I was using today wasn't as good on her, but great to see she didn't pack a fuss and was attempting to work nicely into the contact the majority of the time (just popping her head up a bit at transitions).
Took her for a walk on a loose rein while they were felling trees behind us (louder than you'd expect!) and popped her into the creek which she didn't even bat an eyelid at. She really has come so far. Looking forward to finding a suitable show for her to do a bit more jumping, perhaps some showhunter too just to give her something different to do.
Got home to find Neo screaming his head off at me, most horrified that I'd go somewhere without him. He's such a terror.

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