Thurs 4th March 2010
I didn't ride on Mon as S and I went to watch Bruce Logan on the first morning of his colt starting demo. Very interesting. S took Duncs out Tues which was good. I fed Weds and was going to play but my heavy conscience made me go home and do some housework! It was a lovely day too. Sigh!
Anyway, to this day. I had the boots with me but decided to see how Duncs was without them. We set off onto the main road but D was ears back and dawdling so that was instant feedback. We turned off the main road into a nice soft path that leads to a field which meets the Ashurst Wood bridle path. Duncs perked up a bit. I got on standing on the gate then off again. D stopped due to something caught in his tail and this pause caused the gap between S & I to widen which is not a good scenario when mounting. D was very good but i did get off and on a bit again.
We went down the A/W bridleway and a horse came cavorting around and D did his stallion impression. Got some fabulous sideways! I'm starting to see that although D kinks his tail up and cavorts, he doesn't take off - but he does spin round. When I have my saddle, I will aim to sit these out but I feel too wobbly at the moment. I did a "flying dismount" which caused D to "shudder" as he was tense when I got off. Ideally I should disengage first but I can't seem to remember this, so quick is my dismount reflex! Hey Ho, the more flying dismounts I do, the more Duncs will become desensitised to them so I won't beat myself up about that. Must try to remember next time 'tho.
I walked to the bottom of the path. After we turned round, I got back on and s led me for my confidence. D fine although not tested as the horse didn't come back. We then went down the road, I went in front a fair bit. really pleased with how d's coming on and how his steering has improved. A digger outside Pippas caused him to stop. He tried to turn round twice but this was because I pushed him before he was calm and, to his credit, he didn't get all the way round, just 90 degree before he stopped and refaced. I kept re-asking then stopping him before he wanted to stop which builds his confidence. We didn't get all the way up to it as another digger came along and we had to go but D walked past calmly.
Approaching the digger, I tried leaning forward looking Duncs in the eye and giving him a rub. I could really see the recognition and trust on his face. Very touching as it really reminded me how well we know each other (when he can see me!) now. Perhaps I need to do this a bit more.
We went into the woods on the right (me leading) and did the tiny loop then came back. I was going to try to get D to touch the digger on the way back but i didn't push it. He made a really good effort but I could see he was still scared. He would have done it no sweat with me on the ground and I could have got off but luckily Terri's advice about not forcing things on him came to me and I let it go and he walked past nicely.
All in all, we rode for about an hour and 15 mins which as good. I really like the feeling of clocking up the mileage (plus we've got to have 20 hours riding under our belts for Terri's workshop in June!) We're nearly there!
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