Starting out with Saumur in the outdoor arena we worked on supplying exercises and transitions. He definitely needs an adjustment by the Chiropractor, as I feel he is shifting me to the right. First I thought my saddle got twisted when Saumur fell on it, but the saddle looks even and feels fine when it's on Remy. After the warm-up we played with counter canter - flying changes, as well as trot half-pass zig-zags. Our outdoor arena is rather small (about 30 x 40m), so there is not much room to adjust. It was a beautiful evening, perfect to finish the session with a relaxing trailride with JP and Chambord.
Back home it was Remy's turn. He had called for us the whole time we were gone. 'Mr. Eager-Beaver' is always ready to do something - even if it's not exactly what he is supposed to be doing. In the time it took to put my helmet on he had opened the Velcro tabs on his (double locked!) Woof boots and pulled them off.
It was the first time that it was just the two of us in the outdoor arena, no Chambord to provide equine companionship, no JP on the alert, ready to scrape me off the ground if needed. It went really well, Remy was focused and concentrated, and we had a nice and soft connection.
The whole time I was riding I had this little voice in my head that would go like this for Saumur "narrow hallway, keep him straight, lots of transitions, shoulders lead in the half pass...". For Remy it told me "narrow hallway, make him move forward, more forward, transitions, transitions, make him look slightly to the inside, don't let him be rude...". It seems that good lessons do come with the bonus of a little voice in the head. However, I will not openly admit to the uninitiated that I am 'hearing voices'!
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