Practise at home - Remote controlled riding?

After some days off for the boys to be out and play it was time for Remy last night to buckle up and go to work in the outdoor arena. He hadn’t been out there in several months, and our outdoor is right at a rather busy street. Actually, it’s a dirt road, which means the guy with the tree farm down the road is noisily driving over the potholes with his heavy equipment; and then there are people on four-wheelers, bikes, horses, you name it. The other night someone was walking by – with his steer!

Remy was curious but handled everything beautifully. The only time he spooked was when JP suddenly showed up on the observation deck. The man has a way of getting my horses surprised: The one and only time in 20 years I fell off Crissy was when I was riding her bareback and JP started to dance. That would get even the coolest horse going!

 I was happy that Remy stayed focused and that I actually got him to move better off my leg, despite only wearing chaps and no spurs. The most interesting part was that I felt like I was riding ‘on remote control’: “Shoulder fore, shoulder in, lots of bending lines, serpentines, keep riding him forward, don’t ride with your brakes on, make him listen to that outside rein, no – not good enough, do it again…” The little voice in my head just wouldn’t shut up! That should ring some bells, n’est ce pas, Judy??