sun!

I had hoped there would be some sun, despite the cold, and there was!

I'm sorry to say Molly wasn't letting me on today - she never got the click because she never got as far as standing where i wanted her. Until someone came and held her head, when i clicked, got on, and treated.

i thought at first she was volunteering to go out on her own - no, she was volunteering to go to the field.

the arena was pretty solid, so i'm pleased i hadn't tried to do anything at night through the week. bear in mind the temperature was just above freezing, and after lunch the arena doesnt' get the sun (that is, after noon in the winter).

it was at least sunny wehn i started about 13.10. we did about 50 minutes again. Now, bear in mind it is impossible to close the arena gate when mounted (if i'd thought on, i would have asked the chap who held her head to come and close the gate behind me) ended up heading for the barn twice! eek. in walk, but off she went and i ended up having to take up a much stronger contact and haul her in to halt

I think, whilst I need to be lighter in teh hand than i have been prior to the lesson the other week, I also need to have more contact than i in fact had.

I did have some nice steps here and there, we were starting to get that nice feel again. took me about 1/2 hour to get back to vaguely where i shoudl be to turn - that's back to rein length/contact, and the overall way it should be.

then the third time she decided on leaving the arena, by this time the sun had gone and i was starting to feel it ... i got off and took her back for a very small amount of in hand.

you may say, the inhand should come first. that's probably true - but, given the temperature, i wanted a warm saddle!

left her in after that - time i got done it was about 3 anyway, so she got huge piles of haylage and her tea, and an extra bucket of water just in case. made more sense than turning her out when it was about to get dark and it was getting colder, and feeling like a freezing fog was going to descend.

This morning, i bought on ebay the fritz stahlecker dvds on in hand work - should be interesting. better price than buying from the vendors in germany! also bought some padded german winter warm riding trousers with full sticky seat .... been recommended, and if this cold keeps up going to be a good purchase...spending the money i got for the green saddle the other week!