Equine communion

It's been a mixed weekend what with one thing and another and I've either been too busy or too tired to do anything with the boys until today. This is a bummer, what with daylight hours now being at such a premium, but can't be helped and I've learned the hard way that things done when feeling "meh" are at best uninspired. They're out all day anyhoo so it's not like they're cooped up in a stable.

The day dawned cold but sunny; Q first, my pipe and slippers man, shade of my heart, apple of my eye. I had thought he might be a bit lively, what with the cold and such, but no, energy conservation cranked up to max. We spent most of the session revising a more honest contact on the right rein, combined with more activity. He has learnt the lesson well and I felt better able to maintain it than previously. Saved any lateral work for afterwards and the test was the half-pass right, where often he'll tilt his head at the poll, but didn't this time, so that was great. A lovely ride.

Next Mr T. I'm still at the stage where I often make excuses for not riding him, to my chagrin, and as a result of this we have regressed a bit so that the softness we'd achieved in our trot work had farked orf. I knew today was going to be a good day; he had that look of soft, liquid vlvet in his eyes and was so chilled throughout the grooming and preps, none the worse for the rocket fuel haylage I've just started feeding. We had a good, considered warm up during which he seemed to be very much enjoying the stretching and gymnasticising work, and we had that mental connection that I'm only rarely in a place to participate in but which is quite, quite magical when it happens and makes everything else seem incidental.

He was just as lovely under saddle; calm and soft and attentive, the best he has felt for me in a long long time. He was just there with whatever I asked in the lateral work; LY, SI, HP, and best of all very nice and soft in the trot, enabling us to work through a load of school shapes and pay no attention whatsoever to the mares next door, the shooting in the woods or the chainsawing that Sid was doing in the wood pile. I could have ridden him all afternoon, beautiful beautiful boy.

It's done wonders to restore the balance in my head, which has been skewed for quite a while as a result of a lot of unnecessary bollocks, and it's brought me back full circle to a renewed appreciation for our beloved herd and how utterly worthwhile it all is even when at the lowest point it all seems so hard and relentless. The real lesson in it all is to remember to be in the moment wherever possible and never, ever allow work to get out of its box.