Fun times today! I feared it was going to rain yet again but fortunately it didn't and we had some nice temperatures for riding (in the 50s/low 60s, I think we're all going to die of hypothermia) and not-too-slippery grass. Went and rode with one of my younger friends, C, who's getting back into riding at least for the short-term. She was working on canter on the rail and I got to ride Mr. Wild over some direct and bending-line courses.
Wild and I have had our difficulties in the past; I like him to no end but was always holding him back too much and he would thereupon toss his head and get squirrely, refuse jumps, dive in, and generally throw a fit. At first today we worked in the neck stretcher and he was very calm, sensible, and even a little slow; the Coach had to tell me to "get him to go a bit faster" over jumps. After a bit Coach took off the neck stretcher and raised our verticals on the bending line to a quite respectable 18" (I have brushed 18" before but this was most definitely there, maybe a little higher), and we went round the course again. Wild tried getting head-tossy but I decided to give him the reins and pretend we were riding a jumper course, and we promptly ripped through the first line like nobody's business. Then slowed down a wee bit and finished up on the bending line with a great over-jump that surprised me just a bit, but I recovered well so they say and we finished up nicely.
The Coach is happy. So am I. :) And I'm hoping to go to a clinic with a local hunter-jumper judge in a couple weeks. With Wild. Should be interesting as he's not exactly your ideal hunter horse. But we shall learn a lot I hope. :)
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