Snow but smoother sailing

Yesterday at the yard was pretty brutal, and I'm up early today to decide whether to walk to work rather than drive. So much snow! Pah! I'm not worried about my driving, it's all the other yahoos out there I'm not sure about!

Needless to say, nothing really done with Max. It's a shame because it's not really the best time to take a break, but the weather is beyond my control.

I did have him in the school on Sunday though, and we made some headway with the left rein evasion. I lined first, and I was a heck of a lot firmer in contact than I usually am. He was fine with that and went very nicely - even worked up a bit of a wet mouth.

Went into half the school on the lunge and tried right rein first, which was cool. I think I want a longer line, although I'm not sure if I'd just end up tangled in it. We're not using the whip any more, and although I took my stick in, I didn't use that either. I did use the end of the line though, either circling it like a lasso, or coming up close and flapping it as his bottom if he wasn't keen to get his energy up. It worked. Not as effectively as waving the whip behind him, but we'll worry about those details later.

On the left rein, oh yes, we had evasion. We had tries at evasion, anyway. I can always see it coming - he looks to his right, his right ear twitches that way too, like he's planning his route, he then appears to be coming into the turn as he should, and then just turns and goes the other way.

He tried that, twice, and failed.

Again, I was a lot firmer with the pressure of my hand and as he got to the point where I knew he was going to try it on - I can feel the tension in the line as well - I am not sure exactly what I did, but I did it both times and it worked. It involved squeezing the line like I was wringing out a damp sponge, yelling "Oi!" and a little jump (no, I don't know why the jump either, it just happened).

After that he looked a few times, but a squeeze got his attention back, and lots of praise for going round the bend without trying it on and then he stopped looking, and just got on with it.

By no means do I think we've cracked it, but it was a start. It also doesn't touch his Arab Mist problem out and about. Little steps.

We did a little ridden after that, but I cut it short as another rider came in with her TB and I knew Max was distracted by the company.

We tried a little rein back with putting my weight back and that brush of the legs forward and good golly! Back he went! Also did a bit of trot (only using half the school) changing diagonals and keeping my legs off his sides and we remained in a steady pace rather than going faster, faster, faster... Hard to tell though because we weren't at it for very long.

If the school is decent, I may try that with him again today. I expect I won't be up against a lot of people wanting to use the school because nobody will dare drive over to the yard.

With the ridden I tried the firmer contact too, and I think it helped. He does fight it though - when he starts putting pressure on the bit I find it really hard to not loosen my grip because I don't want him to be uncomfortable.