Bugrit

:sigh: T is still not right, after all. We had a very light in hand assessment session yesterday and he seemed ok, though not precisely 100%. I thought he would be ok for a very gentle physio type session with Mandy, so it was with much anticipation that I took my time prepping him, even going so far as to brush his mane and apply bandages, lest a small amount of support would be called for. He didn't step away from the saddle like he did last week, or otherwise make any point at all: happy days, I thought, here we go. Started our warmup on the right rein and to begin with he looked rather leaden in front, but not unlevel, just as though he was sruggling to get himself off the forehand, which is unusual for him. However, with the application of free walk and jig jogg transitions going large, he loosened off and was producing his usual lovely bendy stretchy work and even offered canter. Happy days, I thought. Left rein: different story. A little tense to begin with and in trot, unlevel :( I've put a call in to Tessa so hopefully she can get over to us asap. Not being able to ride him has made me realise just how much I do want to ride him. Fingers crossed it is something minor that can be easily fixed. He was pretty much ok earlier in the week so I am forced to conclude that rest is needed and to leave him alone to do that.

The upshot of all this is that I had a lesson on Q each day this weekend. Yesterday he was excellent; warmed up well even offering to use his abs (!) and coming willingly to the party knowing full well that energy and stretching would be the order of the day, so I was very hopeful for a good lesson. It was a good seat day too so it felt pretty nice. Mandy is getting after me about my legs, trying to address the fact that they creep forward when I'm not looking. The focus was to get the neck and poll out a bit further and maintain that through a series of transitions within and between the pace, using straightness to encourage throughness over the back and right through the poll. This is where Q's ability to samba his way around my exhortations to get him straight really come to light, whether it's a small but significant poll tilt, haunches in, throwing a shoulder, whatever. Twas ever thus. The focus for me was stretching the leg and using it to lift him up to a collected trot and hug him there, encouraging the use of his back. The challenge was to get the desired improvement in both legs at the same time. Releasing forward, all the time keeping in mind the relation between length of rein and energy required to maintain the contact and not let him plop onto the forehand.

He was a little nonplussed to be dragged at speed from his field and tacked up at a hitherto unknown velocity today, when it became clear that T was not able to take part in the lesson. Perhaps as a consequence, the expression on the back of his head was priceless when I cmabered on, seconds later. "Oooh, mares!" "Oooh, a rustle of wind through the top door of my stable!" "Oooh, the unexpected bleat of a goat!", anything to find for a little spookette. Our remedy for this is lateral work so we went through LY, SI, HI, HP with Mandy offering adjustments and comments, then to an exercise whose name I forget but which involved going from A to B or C to E in a straight line, the exercise being to focus on straightness. He was quite slippery today, and less willing to be through, so we had minor braces of the brachio as well as his usual bum in, shoulder out, tilt the poll doings, so it was quite the challenge to get him straight. Rather than making a series of corrections I was to ride him forward with more energy and that was much more effective. Repeated the exercise in trot and finding it quite hard to get the connection and the straightness, but very clear when it happened. Final exercise in canter was to set off in our most comfortable gait and look to send the poll out a few cm more while maintaining activity. This produced a very nice feel on the left rein and someething that oscillated between ok and ack on the right, always his more difficult side. Thinking the slightest counterbend without changing the aiding and being much more conscious of the conenction through my left side was what did the trick and produced something much more balanced. Finished there.

Otherwise, out with the dogs for a tramp around the field, which was nice. Now to get the girls in and feed round, and find a recipe for salmon en croute.