One step at a time

Bit of an up and down day yesterday. It was raining heavily so wanted to work Bally but leave her rug on...inhand was the perfect choice!

Once again B was generous enough to stand loose in the field whilst I popped her bridle and cavesson on :-D Dee most definitely wanted to get in on the act though and walked up bold as brass and started mouthing the whip and my reins

Led Bally out on to our flat and thankfully not too soggy schooling bit (with Dee still following closely behind! ) To start I'd attached my reins to the cavesson and passed them through the bit rings so she'd get a feel on the bit but not a direct contact. B was good, nicely forward and attentive and softening to pulses on the rein. Managed some passable inside flexion and a little leg yield on the circle Once we'd done about 15 minutes I thought I'd try a little close up long lining (me at hip / bum level) and got some really good circles and changes of direction from her...once or twice B thought about pulling away but as she was on the cavesson I could give a firmer "no!!" on the outside rein, release it and immediately bring the inside rein out and fowards to put her on a circle so she wasn't going anywhere *whistle*

Once I'd had another couple of good circles and 8's I gave her a good stretch and a break whilst I put the reins directly on the bit for a very short..this is OK it won't hurt you..session.
Straight away she was tenser and fussier as I asked her to walk on, so we had a minute or two of standing and me just gently vibrating the bit ring until she relaxed her jaw, then releasing as a reward. Went back to a few minutes of work from the bit...defintely a very slow work in progress as she remained unsettled. I have to be very, VERY careful not to fix my hand against her tension - I caught myself a couple of times - very bad habit. Bally made her displeasure instantly clear and threw her head about. She also felt a lot heavier on her inside shoulder throughout the bitted work than she does on the cavesson - definitely not working with me. As this is such an imperative stage of her training I will taking this contact issue very slowly and may well back her bitless...we'll see how we get on over the next six weeks or so.

Whilst pondering this we suddenly had a lot of commotion, bored by wandering around Dee and the BB decided to play.....so took off and galloped right past us :-o
Bally - understandably upset by this had a bit of a tap dance, I dropped the rein contact and held the cavesson and the front of her rug and brought her straight onto a small circle again. She did really well not to lose the plot as the naughty pair of so & so's then span round and galloped right back at us, wheeling around and bucking as they went past!!!!
Thankfully they galloped off again and although I attached the reins to the cavesson (taking no chances) I couldn't get any softness and Bally remained in giraffe mode :-( I worked for a couple more minutes until I at least had some semblance of attention and then stopped and led her in.

But...on the positive side she coped with a major distraction and I was able to keep her with me....so there is some benefit to working in the field with naughty babies - between Dee, the BB and football matches working in at dressage should be a breeze