But I'm a Racehorse, not a Showhorse!

Today's traning session was quite interesting; me, hungover from a blacktie function the night before, and him, dragging his toes all the way to the arena in equal protest. But we need to practise, boy, do we need to practise!

We always started by walking (me leading from the ground) to the arena - I figure it's a good warm up, and I'm not one to just jump on 'cold' these days .... Call me chicken, but the words 'cold horse' and 'green horse' are never far from my mind. So we take a leisurely stroll the the arena, tighten up the girth a bit, and do some light lunging to either side with the saddle on. Walk, trot, canter to each direction, and I notice his canter is getting alot better (only disunited once this time, woo!) ...

After we're warmed up, I hop on and do some circlework to either side. His trot is feeling really good these days. Better to the right than the left; but I'm stiff to the left as well, so that doesn't help us. I asked him to canter for the first time under saddle; we got a few strides that was about it. I'm not pushing it though - happy to take it slowly and take what I'm given.

After the ridden work I thought I'd see how his leading skills were, given we're off to the show next week. Errrr, zero to none! So I spent a good 45 minutes teaching him to lead from the shoulder, and trot next to me (now that was a mission!) Once he got the idea though, it was all smooth sailing. We also have to work on our stance, but baby steps really. So we'll be sure to practice that one; along with everything else.

He was less than impressed we had such a comprehensive lesson, and not quite sure about all this 'having to look pretty' stuff... But he's still a willing participant for the most part. He gave me as much of a workout today as I gave him, and I'm sure it was his payback for making him work hard as well..... Running next to his huge trot; keeping my legs glued to his sides, because if I relaxed it was his cue to relax as well (and by relax, I mean stop completely).

Cheeky devil; MY cheeky devil.

Beginners Ring here we come. And beginners we are!