Terrible twins.

I do wish that radaR would have a word with Radar about how he manages to balance up and down hill and dale out hunting. It might help radaR understand how to balance at all in the indoor!

It takes him ten minutes to stop stomping around in a walk that gets faster and faster and if you don't hold him up, breaks into a trot and then a canter and then falls over .... Or it would, if you let him!

Once he had calmed down, and with more time spent halting than any horse I have ever trained in my life, he actually did some quite nice work. There is a dressage trot hidden away in there once he learns how to control that huge body.

So on to Jazz. Submission was not high on his agenda to start with today! We spent fifteen minutes establishing that he WOULD walk, bend, walk, change bend, circle, etc etc etc. Once he realised that work meant work, he was great. I tried a little trot and he was extremely close to giving me some piaffe. I think I probably got one stride right on the spot, and three within a couple of yards.

Then to cap it all, I put him in left canter, did one ten metre circle, changed the rein in 17 of the 27 metres that I have available indoors, changed the bend in another five, asked for a change and got it - perfect - before cantering the ten metre bend in the opposite direction. How athletic is this boy to do a perfect flying change on his worse side in that tight a space? I'm so excited about being nearly able to start tempis!!

C