Cilla is starting to follow directions better with much less rushing. Her transitions are still a little sloppy but that will improve over the next few rides. I swung a stick on her last week and had her following another horse around the arena - she seems to respond better and work more tidily when she has a focus point. In her case, it seems to be anything that she can see and follow, over the course of the next week I'm going to let her buddy up on rides and hopefully she will work smoothly and consistently. In essence, I will let her have her comfort zone and safety when she needs it but she will have to earn her reward by working further from the buddy horse and only returning when she has done something productive. Definitely a work in progress, but still getting better and more confident each day.
Secret is starting to show some true and smooth movements. He's getting more confident moving around in his own body space with each ride. The head carriage has improved immensely and and he is starting to collect into the transitions nicely, I even had a bit of a slide as we came back down from canter to trot. His stops are still slightly sloppy, I think this is more down to a lack of muscle and bodily strength and as he gets stronger and more flexible he is starting to find his feet. The big old boy is finding his feet in more than one sense, he seemed to carry a lot of rigidity through his ribcage at the start, he is now responding smoothly and sharply from the leg and keeping half an ear cocked back to see what we doing next. I had a fun stick and ball session on him yesterday and I get the feeling he enjoys chasing the orange ball around the arena and is totally unfazed by the ball bouncing back towards him as it comes off a wall.
All in all, a good week with both of them and I'm looking forward to a productive week ahead. For the moment the plan is to get them over a few jumps and trotting poles and out around the roads a little bit too.
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