Compared to the last few weeks, this Tuesday’s lessons wasn’t quite so amazing. However, that mainly had to do with the exercise itself than anything else. Murphy was just as happy to work as he has been of late, and I think I did fairly well too. But, the main exercise was riding circles and going into a counter-canter just before we left one circle and rode over into the next in a pattern-of-eight figure. The constant circling, while focusing on keeping the horses bent counter to the circle as well as on where to start cantering, made me pretty dizzy. I kept losing track of where to start cantering, and consequently asked Murphy to start a little early a few times which his co-ordination couldn’t handle. I also didn’t get such great lines across to the other circle because I kept drifting a bit, and the fact that we circled at a walk and only got to canter now and then meant I didn’t get quite the same build-up of energy in Murphy. Still, he did an admirable job, and he really has improved so much.
Once again, however, he was unhappy in the stables. I am wondering if he’s feeling unsettled because of Fleur being gone. They had Martino next to him at first, and he didn’t like that at all, so now its Spitfire. Who is very friendly and polite, but maybe not to Murphy’s tastes anyway. In any case, I broke the new “no treats” rules a few times to perk him up; I think he needs it, to be reassured, though the rule is a good base to keep kids from overfeeding the ponies. Especially the greedy ones like Nelson, who gets mouthy from it.