Somewhere over the Rainbow...: Winter holidays looming

We did our usual Thursday dressage lesson. This time in the morning, as I had other things to do in the afternoon and one lady has stopped attending in the morning, due to being pregnant, so her slot was given to us. I prefer riding in the morning and I think Rainbow does too. We're OK in the evening/afternoon but somehow it's just more productive for both of us in the first half of the day...

Anyway, we practised the same moves as before: formation, routes and transition. Nothing too exciting but hard enough for us. Rainbow has started to learn that when we have our Thursday lesson there's no point trying to get away with not working, as I am not letting her get away with anything. But I hope the good feeling of a job well done and praise also transmit to her in the instant, during and after finishing the lesson, because she gets a lot of praise – and always a Polo mint from our instructor too – a nice touch!

Thursday's lesson wasn't remarkable but I did get her to trot in formation without trying too hard. My instructor is brilliant: she instantly sees if I am struggling with something, and helps to take a step back, asking me to make a little adjustment, e.g. turning hand or giving rein in one hand, more/less leg, transferring weight, etc. and suddenly things start to gel! Amazing. She is worth her weight in gold.

I haven't schooled Rainbow own our own for a while. I have been riding her on lessons mainly, except hacking out of course. Also the busy indoor school hasn't always been inviting. I like to have space around me, not have other riders whizzing past us left, right and centre! Plus I have suffered from slight loss of confidence, so I have been thinking it's better to ride under instruction so I can concentrate on the riding and not feel quite so alone with trying to do something 'interesting' with Rainbow. And I appreciate the instant feedback of an instructed lesson.

I decided to school Rainbow on my own yesterday and the school was practically empty, so it was a bliss for a while. I decided to warm her up well and we walked around a fair amount, until trotting and doing circles, and then cantering on the track and in circles. We were working well for about 15 minutes and took advantage of the whole school until it became busier. As soon as I felt that Rainbow was warmed up and we were finally trotting in a 'flying' manner, working fully, she must have also sensed this elation and decided to have a 'look' (= mini-spook evasion) at one of the fences in the corner of the school. We'd been past that corner about 20 times by then, so it was nothing new. I was annoyed with her because it was a pure excuse. I slowed us down to walk and walked around the newly scary corner, constantly asking for forward movement and formation, if she forgot. She looked a little but didn't evade. I repeated this again and then picked up trot again, past the scary corner. Again, constantly asking for things, simultaneously staying as relaxed as I could, but poised to take action if she decided to continue taking the p***. And surely enough, the corner was no longer scary. But she has to try! She did a similar thing on our Thursday lesson too, this time about some poles on the ground. Well, she didn't get away with it – I took her around in walk and then in trot, asking for things so she didn't have a choice except to go past.

This coming week is a bit bitty on the horsey front, as I am off on holiday. Rainbow is getting a little break too but I have arranged some work for her during this time as I don't want to return to a wild horse ;)

Here a couple of pictures of us from yesterday. Some of them a bit shaken but you'll get the gist.