Dragonslaying and finding Charlie

It is always good to share the ups and downs of life with a rehab horse. People have said to Tori what does Anna do in between lessons that make her go from euphoria to despair. Well that is easy to answer. I have concentrated too much on seeking perfection before our next lesson and this week I have attempted to fix it.

So ......Dragonslaying

Marquee Dragons

Charlie and I have spent the last few days fighting dragons. I feel I have concentrated a bit too much on my riding and not enough on his perception of Dragon in the Hedge.

I was absolutely delighted to find a Marquee built on the upper lawn of the farm and took Charlie in hand to introduce him to it. There followed much snorting (him) and hugging (me) and the guys thought I might be a little bit bonkers.

On Sunday I decided to ride past it. This involved riding up the track past the scary chickens and onto the driveway along the drive onto the road back down the hill and into the main yard gate a handy little anticlockwise mini loop. We did this twice it did involve some front elevation of the rearing kind but small and that didn't matter as we eventually walked along the drive in a banana like fashion. I didn't go for a third session as that felt more like punishment than education.

Dressage board Dragons

Yesterday we lunged in the Pessoa and did some canter transition work. It was interesting to see how Charlie applied himself to the transitions and how they improved. We ended our work with a 5 minute join up session which was fun.

Getting to the arena had involved walking past a wheelbarrow of freshly painted dressage boards (ok broken poles painted white) which threatened Charlie so we completed our session by meeting the white dragons. This involved a lot of snorting and a pocket full of carrots. By the time I had finished I could pick up a pole and wave it and finally he was happily eating carrots off the poles in the wheelbarrow while I wobbled it a bit.

Fire breathers

We finished our day by having to walk very close to a large crackling snapping bonfire to get to our field. I wore my hard hat just in case and placed myself between Charlie and the Dragon. Wow not only did he go past it he stood and looked at it as I patted him.

And today.......I found Charlie!

We rode in the school, me not riding as well as I should and Charlie having little discussions with the my contact and the bit. Only at one point did he throw his quarters in to evade and blow me down if he didn't ride forward and back to where I wanted him.

We even did a few canter transitions with a dangerously forward seat thank goodness for no bucking with this boy and they were ok.

Nothing ventured nothing gained I decided on repeating the marquee visiting but in reverse and of course now there is no marquee as it was dismantled yesterday.

I rode across the concrete yard on a very perky happy forward going boy no traffic so turned right onto the road and walked briskly up the hill. Stopped in the road to turn right back into house driveway anticipating reluctance but no he very happily marched on and then did his impression of a giant banana going past where the marquee wasn't all goggle eyed. Back down to the chickens and there we decided to stop and meet the chickens properly.

So no real evasions in the school none of the toy throwing of confusion. It really feels like I have the perky happy willing to learn Supercob back so now it's all up to me.