Sharp as a knife.

I had to ride Ace in a high wind again today, which will be pretty much the norm from now until the spring so he has to get used to it. He napped once back towards the gate and got a flick with the whip and never tried that one again. And he spooked in a corner when he saw the wind blow a weed, which I let him off, because many horses of his age and experience would not work as well as he does in those conditions. He is, though, as sharp as a knife when he spooks. He gives no warning whatsoever, just shoots sideways and turns. I don't find it hard to sit, but it is nerve-wracking not getting any clues that he is going to do it. Jazz signposts about half an hour in advance compared to Ace :-)

I am having some issues with him being stiff on the right rein. Nothing serious, but he is not equal in my hands and he wants to hold his head to the outside. When I try to hold him bent inwards, he gets irritated and threatens to buck. The only way to get it is to send him on to loosen him up, and then bend with the increased forward  movement. Luckily I have enough space to get a result with that, 20 metres would not be enough.

In walk he does the same thing and I had to work on my lollipop tree to get him to loosen, and then on the right rein I had to get him to jog to make him stay forward until he realised that it would be less energy to walk. The walk he did then was super, very loose in the back, and he stretched right down and ran his nose along the surface. I stopped then and told him what a good boy he was.

Neither of the other two got done today, but tomorrow I plan to ride all three of them.

C