She can do it .....

but she sometimes chooses not to! I rode Tia in the grit this morning and she was really good. Until she decided that she had done enough, and refused to trot properly on the right rein. Last time it was the left rein, so it's probably not physical, but mental. She just decides she's done enough work and calls a halt. She goes verrrrrrrrrrrrry slowly. If made to carry on she then rushes off. If stopped from rushing she pulls the back end out to the side to avoid working through. Once she realises none of those are going to work she blows through her nose and does what I want! She also tried to evade a walk/canter transition by rushing, chucking her head in the air, turning a circle and so on until I got her perfectly balanced, held onto the rein and hey presto she did one absolutely perfect one. I stopped immediately to reward her, it really was a brilliant transition :-)

Tetley was unsound on the black leg. It was very clear. I think we probably have about 8 months to go through like we did with the white one, and some time around next spring I hope he will be permanently sound. He is modifying his feet again to have a higher inside heel, so I know what's going on this time. It is nowhere near as marked a difference this time though, or not yet, anyway. In a way I am pleased. I would rather he had done both legs at once, of course, but at least this way we know that his white leg is pretty much fixed, otherwise he would be struggling on that one too, or appear to be sound because he was equally lame in both. With one leg being later than the other, it's clearer what is actually happening. Hopefully it is also better for him to have at least one hind leg he can stand on! He seems perfectly happy to go out for a walk, so we had a really nice time in what can only be described as perfect summer weather.

As we rode along today, a small bird of prey (a merlin) flew off a fence post and along to one 50 yards further on. It did that several times, so I was able to watch it for ages. It was exquisite, about a foot high, reddy brown colour with a sharp curved beak and talons. It made my ride.

Caddy has had the day off. His winter coat is strong red colour and more fluffy than I expected. Not enough to clip, (:-) but more than he might have got. Tia has less than him, so she won't need clipping either. So only one to do this year, great.

C.