Im BACK!!!

Well!! Im back to it! And thankfully dont seem to have lost much fitness! Just a bit of thigh ache last week!

Antjse on the other hand had turned into Miss Bolshy pants in my abscence And my sister said the last day she tried to barge out of her stable and then wouldnt stand still on the yard! I forget this is how she was when I first had her and its nice to know that I do at least have a positive influence over her ;o)

So, the first few days were all about re-establishing boundaries!! Oh yes my dear Antsje.....you DO have them! hahaha!

We did quite a bit of 'head down' work especially when I am letting her out into the field as she basically snatched her head out of the headcollar to rush off! So I recaught her and insisted she put her head down and let me take the headcollar off properly - it took several attempts (with clicking ) before she realised the good life was over, mummy was BACK and she had to toe the line :p

The first ride wasnt much better either lol! I got on, she promtly power walked towards the gate as SHE thought we were off hacking!! grrrrrrrr!!! Then it took me nearly the whole session to get her to SLOW DOWN! as she had reverted to the old power walk, not listening to my seat and ploughing through my hand! But at least my seat is much better now that she couldnt knock me out of position quite as well as she used to! So eventually we had some 'slow funeral walk' so I decided to do a bit of trot - and went back to square one lol! She felt very 'on the shoulders' on the right rein too, which is her natural crookedness coming through.
So for the last week all I have been doing is SLOW walk, SLOW trot, and suppling exercises.

**I** have also been riding one handed for parts of our session so I can ensure I have a genuine bend from the inside leg and NOT hanging on the inside rein which I am good at! Gradually we are regaining the suppleness and balance we had before I went away.

Another thing I have noticed is that when I ride one handed, primarily to help me on the right rein, I have noticed that although I am using outside rein to turn, I am actually bringing right over the crest of the neck! So although techinically I am not using the inside rein to turn, this isnt correct either - so yet again, I am tricking myself! Grrrrrr!!! So, in walk, I concentrated on keep my outside rein in a 'normal' position while still trying to maintain the inside bend. I figured out that she is falling out and I was using the outside rein to stop this without really being consciously aware of it! So, instead I used my outside LEG to stop the falling out and now im able to drop the inside rein, keep my outside rein 'normal' and keep the bend to the right! RESULT! :o)

Canter is a bit crap again but I suppose it will come back.....

We did some work on the lunge yesterdayover poles in trot and in canter. I was really pleased! plus I did lots of halt to trot trans and walk to canter trans - it was good to SEE how much this made her 'sit' so I am incorporating this into the ridden work

Oh yes - Reinback! we are doing a fair bit of this - while concentrating on the straightness. I use it particularly when she is 'tramming' to get her off her shoulders and sitting more.

So, onwards and upwards! For my birthday my sister said she would take me to a dressage test! But want to re-establish the canter a bit first....ever the perfectionist lol!!!

Oh! and Ive entered into a Marathon!! All in aid of Macmillan Cancer - so if you'd like to support this wonderful cause you could sponsor me......