Riding Free!

The three stages of riding Echo. First stage: being led.
Second Stage: riding on the lunge. This is her far better rein and where she is most comfortable.
And finally - trotting free around the school.

As you can see from the pictures, Echo and I have had a very successful few days! I rode her yesterday on the lunge for the first time, which was fine - she was fantastic on the right rein, but less balanced on the left. This is quite surprising, as her left rein has always been her more balanced, or at least it was last summer. She finds the circle tricky on the left and pulls to the outside, falling out through her shoulder and slowing down.

Today, we trotted on both reins on the lunge, with me starting to use fewer voice commands, and more leg aids. Echo was slightly baffled by this, so I am keeping up the voice commands for upwards transitions at the moment - otherwise we would just stand still! The downward transitions are much easier without the voice, as I am able to use my seat and she has quickly learned what this means.

It's incredibly disconcerting, riding a horse that has absolutely no idea of the aids we simply take for granted when riding. She is starting to understand the whole steering lark, but it's still rather ropey! We managed to steer round a cone which she was very much not going to go round to begin with, so I feel like the steering is gradually developing.

I had such a big smile on my face at the end of today's session; I didn't want to get off! This is definitely what I have been waiting two years for.