Let's go guys!

I didn't need to worry about how much exercise anyone got today. There was a very heavy mist and Zippy was going bananas. He was leading the other two in a mad gallop up and down the field. As you know, it's got a very hefty slope on it, so by the time they calmed down and came in everyone had had a jolly good workout :-)

I rode Zippy on the arena and he was still pretty hyperactive. He heard a car go up the road which he couldn't see in the fog, and panicked. There was a point where I thought "I've lost him" and wondered where we were going to end up, then I managed to get his head pulled sideways and he came back to his senses just before he went through or over the fence. Sensible boy.

He took some time to settle and was tossing his head about, but I gave him the contact that Sonia had told me to take and pushed him forward with a supportive leg. We slowed the trot right down, and then let it out again, just as I had done with Sonia with him. I got the same result, a lovely rounded trot into a beautifully settled contact. He has a superb mouth, the best of any horse I have ever had. he takes a clear hold, but he is not leaning or pulling and he stays perfectly responsive to a really light change in the rein. Super!

I schooled Jazz too. Outdoors at home for the first time since the teenage tantrums phase. I allowed for the fact that he would be tired after a fast ride yesterday and then a race this morning too. I rode him with my leg off, and I am just amazed at what it achieves. Without the leg, you can hold the rein against his head-tossing and he accepts it and moves himself up to the bit. How glad I am that I found Sonia. The previous trainer simply had me doing what everyone else has tried - drive him up to the contact with your leg (only she added a driving seat too). It took Sonia no time at all to recognise that Jazz needed me to take my leg off, and it gets a superb result from him. There were bikers and walkers from time to time in the road, but without pressure from the leg, he accepted pressure from the hand to stay in shape and keep moving.

It also does something very interesting to me - as I turn my heels out to disengage my lower leg, my whole seat sits more securely into the saddle. It also makes me much less likely to look down, which keeps me sitting more upright. And then the whole thing means that I can suddenly feel an awful lot more of what he is doing with his body, and correct him before he uses his strength to wriggle out of the shape I want him in. I don't think he has ever been as steady in the mouth as he was for the last half of our 20 minutes today. All from taking off your leg?

I just had a gut feeling that if only George could do the same exercises for several days in a row, he might understand better. And did it work, or what? I was actually going to take him out for some fast work, because we are hunting next weekend, but with him already having had a spin I didn't feel he needed it.

The walk was almost relaxed right from the start and he never hurried or stamped as he usually does. The trot transitions were soft and gentle, if a little backwards, and the trot was calm and slow. And he agreed to circle without running away with loss of balance. So I thought we might as well try a canter. He got the right lead very well and the canter was pretty good. The left lead was more of a struggle and I had to bend him outwards to stop him striking off with the wrong leg. But he restrained his panic reflex very well, and got two acceptable attempts. What a good boy, eh? It was a truly amazing improvement since two days ago. Maybe I should get Zippy to warm him up again?

C