Jessica's first session today was spent long-reining. After a bit of a brush (and you can see it was just 'a bit') we briefly long reined in the round pen before graduating to the paddock and then the large field. She was just lovely and is no longer afraid of the reins or even of me 'trotting' along behind occasionally. For her second session I asked Charly to make friends with her before we quietly backed her for the first time. He leaned over her a few times before sitting astride her keeping low for a while. We repeated this three times and each time Charly was able to sit up more and we were able to walk her in small circles.
This is not just another cryptic photo of Charly. Unfortunately when I tried to take a photograph of him on board, Jessica was startled by the click and the flash and backed up rather rapidly before depositing Charly on the ground. I then had to spend the next five minutes with the camera on sports mode, repeatedly clicking, until she was fine with the noise. Needless to say I didn't use the camera again when he got back on. Lesson learned. We need a third person just to take photos from a little bit further away! Still, we are making great progress and Jessica didn't seem in the least bit fazed by the gale force winds we had to endure today.
Charly and I also rode Theoden and Petra out today. Once we were in the inclosure it was far more pleasant but both horses seemed to be fine despite the weather.
