Oh I LOOOOOVE him!

I took Caddy out for a short hack this morning. It’s the first time that he has ever been outside the yard with a rider on his back. I figured that I knew him well enough now to know that he was not going to be completely daft about anything. He was super. He was hesitant about leaving the other two, but happy enough to try it and see what happened. We met one car which saw my L plates in my BE number bib and stopped a long way away and waited for us to come past. He didn't bat an eyelid at it. And he was so interested in everything, swinging along happily looking left and right to see what was going on. He didn't even rush or fret when we turned for home. And on top of that he was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo COMfortable. I can hardly believe that on top of being a beauty to look at and great to school he is also a fantastic hack. What a chance find he was.

Tetley was sound and we schooled for a while. He started off very lazy and I had to pick up a stick to encourage him to work forwards. He didn't want to do a punching trot on the right rein, it was flat and lifeless. Normally his left rein is worse with his bad hocks. It took a lot of transitions and half halts but he got it after a while and really carried me up one long side, and then we stopped. I was very pleased with him, I couldn't feel a thing wrong with him. It'll be a while before I take him off devil's claw again ;-)

Tia's back was good enough to ride today so we schooled. She started well and did some nice walk and trot. But practising the test for next week, she did some truly horrible canter and got in a fuss about whether I wanted her to canter or trot when I came to the down transition. I decided to do it again, and if she fought me, as she had been, to let her go and find her own balance. Well! She flew around a 20 metre circle twice at top speed, leaning in further and further the longer she carried on :-0 Wall of death stuff. When I felt it was dangerous, I pulled her up. Then we did some calm walk and tried again.

But obviously by doing it, she realised the benefit of working with me and letting me help her balance, because the next time both canters were the best she can do in the grit. She got to stop then, as a reward. I think she is learning to curb her anxieties and her temper the longer we are together. She never picks her front feet off the floor any more, and if you flick her with a whip to send her on or correct a disobedience, she doesn't buck or kick out like she used to either, she just accepts it. I'd be thinking that I want to keep her, only hacking her out bears no comparison to the young man!

I can't wait to take him out on the fields now I know that he is not going to try whipping around and running for home. I can get him truly traffic proof from inside the fence next to the road, and then we can go places.

As a barefoot titbit, Caddy's feet are really interesting, in that he does not have matching pairs. One front one grows more than the other and has just shed its frog so I could bring the heels right down. The other is the same shape but grows at different times. On the back I have a similar situation, with the faster growing feet on the same side of his body. But with the backs out of timing with the fronts, so there is always one foot somewhere longer than the rest. Interesting, eh? Makes for interesting trimming - one foot at a time, basically, and then wait for the next one to grow! They all grow like topsy, just not at the same time :-)

C.