All three ridden today

Ace did not need riding today but I really love riding him now and I "just had to". For the first time, I warmed him under the lights while I was schooling Woody. More of Woody later, but when I came to ride Ace he was lovely and forward and very early on he chose to take canter. I sat it, and he almost apologetically fly-bucked to say "no, too early to sit, half-seat please". I did that and he was a gem. Once he was warmed up enough, we worked on canter to walk, which is not as good outdoors as indoors because he is less focussed when he is outside. But it was pretty reasonable for a newby at it. We also did a bit of medium trot, and it is a joy to ride a horse who does not run through my hands like Jazz used to. I put my leg on, and if he tries to dive or canter, all I have to do is squeeze the rein and he responds. The trot was not brilliant, but it is getting better and it's a long time since we tried it so I was happy with what we got.

Then I rode Woody. I have to say Woody came out of the barn as if all four of his feet were falling off ! And yet when I rode him he was perfectly sound. It was as if he sensed the minus 3 temperatures and was expecting frozen spikes of mud to hurt his feet as he walked from the barn to his stable. That's how it looked, anyway.

Schooling wise, he takes considerable persuasion to go forward to a contact but eventually we had some really nice walk serpentines with bend changes with a long outline and a light but constant contact. To get the same in trot it was necessary to get him to trot a big circle too fast - which he does with the stride length of a pony which is far from comfortable for a long-shanks like me - and then ask for more speed, which he can only give by releasing his shoulders and allowing his whole body to stretch and increase the stride length. Again, he is resistant to doing that while also maintaining any sort of contact, but he did do it, and when he got it I could then half-halt the speed to a slower rythmn and we were able to finish on a  very pleasant trot for us both.

Just in case the hunt is on this Saturday, unlikely with the temperatures we already have and those forecast, Radar and I had a good hack around the hills. It was lovely being out and about on a forward and fit horse who loves his work, with blue skies, bright winter sunshine and no wind.

C