... you soldier on with your lesson even though it's raining cats and dogs. I'm not sure I've ever been this wet while clothed before - but I had two brilliant lessons so I'm not going to complain.
First of all, I had a lesson with Blitz
So, because it was raining, we did something new today, and added a waterproof quarter sheet/ exercise rug to his tack. Now of course, this didn't faze him at all. TBH, he has been so easy to introduce things to, that when he objected to going into the carrière the first time he really caught me by surprise.
Since my last lesson I've lunged him once, and Becky had a sit on, and nothing else. Today he really was very good. He has really got the idea of walking and trotting in circles in a nice calm manner with a light contact on the rein. So to build on this, and to build some independence, we are doing lots of walk/trot transitions and do a circle, walk on a bit, do a circle, walk on a bit, so I'm not walking with him very close to his head.
What I also did was to keep the work on the right rein very short, and although it seems counter-intuitive with the right being the difficult side, the aim is to keep everything short and sweet, calm and controlled, and to change hands again before anything goes awry. So while we are progressing quite a lot on the left rein, on the right rein we are still working on relaxation and cooperation.
After a short time it was time for me to get on again, so I tightened up the girth, and while Katia stood at his head I got on from a step (I use the same length stirrup length for both Blitz and Tartine, and it is a biiiiiit of a stretch to get my leg up that for on Blitz!
So while mounted we did some work on walk/halt transitions, but with me giving the majority of the aids, with as little help from Katia as possible.
Then came the exciting bit - my first trot on Blitz :D
OMG, even with the baby wobbles, he is just so comfortable, and Katia is right I'm going to have to completely relearn how to ride, because his stride length is about three times the length of Tartine.
After a few small circles in trot, we then went for a walk around the carrière with Katia on the lead rein to give some help when necessary. We changed the rein and did another circuit of the school before doing a little more trotting :D
We stopped on a good note, when he was really working well, independently on a long rein from Katia, and with me giving the aids.
I then had a bit of a break while I scraped the mud off Tartine, and went out again, into the driving rain.
We did a lot of very interesting work on bend and counter-bend, both on a circle and on a square. The counter bend on a square was a really interesting exercise, and not something I've done before.
The remainder of the lesson was spent working on leg yield to canter transition. I've not done much LY in trot with Tartine before, so this was a real test for us both, and Tartine did really well. Me - not so much, but I'll get there eventually.
Once thing I did learn today was that neither of my ponies have any issues with water! Our carrière floods very easily, and with it being wet all week, and then with sustained rain today the water was a good 8ins deep along the field fence. Although Tartine had a good look at it each time, she trotted through no problems and Blitz walked through without any hesitation too.
So, despite the sogginess it was an excellent afternoon for me.
Now, I'm not sure how much I'll be moving tomorrow as my back muscles are seizing up even now!
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