104. The results of long reining...

Today, i decided it was finally time to ride Spice out of the yard and down to the stables and back. Having got her to the point where she would do this whilst being long reined i figured she should now be ready to do this whilst being ridden and she completely was... She was incredibly easy off the hands and leg showing no resistance whatsoever (in marked contrast to a couple of weeks ago, see post 90) and when i did use my legs she actually broke out into a trot rather than simply speed up.

I managed to ride her down to the bottom of the stables, then make her stand quietly for a few seconds and then ask her to go back, stopping half way up (as we normally do) I then went into one of the neighbouring fields with her and it sounds funny but it seemed as though she really wanted to 'take me for a ride' she was very excited in the field and kept wanting to trot but due to her hooves i didn't want to do too much with her. So, after a couple of minutes i then rode her back into the corral where i asked her to walk up to the mounting block so i could dismount and she stood completely still and quietly while i did so. She was an absolute dream and although i only rode her for all of five minutes she was the most responsive and trusting that she has ever been. It's so nice to see such amazing results. It reassures me that what i am doing is right and whether it takes a year or more i know for sure that with each day that goes by our relationship grows stronger. Needless to say i gave Spice 2 carrots today for being so good. :)