A wee trip around the block

Brought a slightly damp and soggy Bailarina in, but the rain had already stopped and the sun was coming out so we were on for our long reining hack attempt this evening!

I gave her a nice brush and plaited her mane up to keep it out of the way of the reins - I'm not sure if she's had a full crest plait done before..(Pauline?) but she seemed quite amenable, even coping with me scraping my step box around. She had a couple of little fidgets, but stood still once I moved her back. I did have one problem - B's mane falls on the opposite side to Safi's and I had a right job - all fingers and thumbs at first, because I was on the wrong side to what I've been used to plaiting.

Popped all her gear on - pad, roller, cavesson (adjusted much better today) bridle and the long reins attached to the cavesson. I also attached her lead rope around her neck so I could lead from it in case she had a sticky moment. And off we went!!

I led her through the car park to be on the safe side and as soon as we got on to the path to the fields slipped back and let the rein out...and Bally happily marched forwards.

We negotiated a couple of turns Ok but had a bit of a blip in the big hay field as B went to trot off I moved myself to bring her round on a circle and then attempted to change rein flipping the reins over to the other side of her back as I moved over behind her...oops nope - WHHHEEEEEEE went B in a messy oval / circle sort of thing. Then I couldn't for the life of me get in the right position to get forwards and straight lol so rather than get the pair of us frazzled I brought everything to a stop and led her to the next corner ready to start again on a straight line.

Off we set off again and I used the length of this path to work on good transitions to my voice commands - walk on, halt and trot, with a bit of steady and heaps of whaddagoodgirl thrown in too. I was really pleased with her as she gave me some really good transitions.

I felt her start to tense up as we approached the spot where she had a little argh moment and turned tail last time we tried this long reining lark... twice she went to drop a shoulder and spin, but because I'm getting more in tune with her reactions and reading her better / quicker I could block with the rein and my body.
I really don't want this bit of path to become an issue though, so once I'd got her standing steady I hitched up the longlines, reattached the lead rope and nice and calmly led her the last bit. I really have no idea what is so scary there but she was quite stressed about it???
Anyway as soon as we reached the end and turned the corner she was totally fine, so back to long reining :-) And she happily took the lead along the back right up to the combine and past the big blue haylage bales - Yay!

Had one more OMG moment has we came up the path past the fields - my friend Di's big Friesian lad Prince came haring across his paddock at full pelt - he's like a war horse / charger when he's cantering, quite a sight to behold!! - Well Bailarina stuck her tail in the air like an Arab and launched into Power Trot mode with me doing that hilariously funny running / leaping thing trying to keep up and not waterski off the reins, all the while giving it "steady, steeeeeeeaaaady!!!!!!" I'm quite pleased and very relieved to say that she did after a couple more huge strides - I'm sure it must have looked quite amusing lol!!

Back down to walk and we got back to the yard fairly uneventfully - another couple of fairly half hearted attempts at turning back on me that were blocked and then she did her "actually I'm going to stop here for nooo good reason" as we reached the end of the path so I countered it with an "I'm going to flap these reins along your sides and be really annoying about it until you move your behind" which after about a minute of stand off worked a treat. She walked on for about ten more strides and I halted her, hitched up the reins, gave her loads of praise and scratches and then led her back into the yard.

All in all a good session - once again pushing her boundaries just a little further and asking for a bit more each time but taking a step back to reassure her when needed. I think that's so important - don't push too far, just far enough and never see taking the lead / responsibility as a failure which I know once upon a time, many moons ago I would have done - taking the lead is showing her she can trust me and look to me for guidance, not "giving in" That was a very important lesson for me a few years back!