Bella and Grace.

Snow has stopped play here at the moment but over the weekend I had another little play with Bella and rode Grace for the first time in ages.

Bella and I did some more in hand work. We began with shoulder in, renvers, travers and half pass, in walk and trot. Then we did some Spanish Walk, mainly focusing on getting lots of forward movement in Spanish Walk, as I want to try and use Spanish Walk to find passage.

We finished with some in hand canter work. We've done quite a bit of this in the past with Bella on the end of a line a few yards away from me but this time, after watching some ST videos, I had her right next to me using normal reins and it was really awesome! It's quite something to be that close to a cantering horse and she seemed huge every time her forehand left the ground!  I really enjoyed the sensation of being so close to all that power and energy, something I don't really think of when I'm riding her. It was very inspiring and I'm really excited about doing more of it!

Then I rode Gracie and I had totally forgotten how good her lateral work is, in walk and in trot. I really enjoyed riding her and when the weather improves again I must do a bit more with her. It's so useful to have a second, educated horse to try things out with while they're still fresh in my mind from the session with the first horse. So much of training seems to me to be about visualising what you're aiming for and concentrating on feel and timing. I get all fired up and keen working with Bella and it's great to have Grace as back up, so I can experiment some more while I'm on a roll!