Adjusting to two very different horses - and where is the shoe?

Two rides today on two very different horses. With Remy it was quite the eye-opener for me when Sandy continuously urged me on "forward, forward, more forward". I thought I had Remy in a good forward moving trot, but he started to 'hop up', which felt like he was trying to go into the canter. Sandy pointed out that it was a balance issue, and that Remy needed to be more in front of my leg. "Going forward will take care of the hip-hop". Sure enough, once he was moving energetically forward Remy's stride got longer, he searched the connection to the bit, and carried himself in a nice training level frame. Sandy pointed out that I need to ride Remy like a trained horse, and not like a baby. That basically means I just have to ride and not worry about him fussing, falling over the outside shoulder on the circle, etc. Fix it and ride on.

Saumur reminded me again today that we (I!) still have trust issues. Sure enough, first the door was no problem, then the light rays changed, and he spooked. Instead of just ignoring it I kind of lost it, and things went downhill from here. With Sandy's help we got over it and were able to go by the door without any further meltdowns. She reminded me that he needs me to give him confidence and by my getting upset we are again feeding on each other's insecurities. In her words "Saumur will always be Saumur, that's just how he is" and added deadpan "When you come with all your intensity I tell myself: this is Birgit, and this is just how she is"...Uh, Oh-kay. Good point!

In contrast to Remy, the goal with Saumur is to S L O W down. Ten years -and counting- on working on relaxation and slowing down... Today we focused on the canter work, and the correct 10m circles, especially in the 'scary' areas. I need to remember that I can only supple him on the inside AFTER I have a good connection on the outside. We finished with a good collected walk, which is usually one of our weaker points in the tests.

Summary of today: Forward with Remy: "He is a trained horse (and the fussing will go away)". Slow and relaxed with Saumur: "He is Saumur, that's just how he is (and the spooks don't matter)".  And yes, Birgit is just Birgit...

Last week Chambord found JP's car keys, this week he lost a shoe. It seemed to have vanished in the muddy pasture. Win some - lose some I guess.  I told Britney that JP is out looking for a shoe - and she innocently asked "What, did JP now lose a shoe??"