Face Full of Nature!

I opted for a hack :)

Since it the sun was trying to peek through the grey, I groomed him outside. Got lots of dust in my eyes for my trouble, and the curry comb actually got stuck in the mud on his backside *lol*

Quadi was in a most agreeable mood today :) We saw an old lady walking her barking dog and he had a stop and a think, but once I felt him less tense I asked him on and off we went.

Once we arrived at The Loop, having bounced our way through the forest, me grinning the whole way, we met a dog walker. Sadly she was along the track we wanted to canter. So I stopped and shouted to invite her past. Instead she about turned with her four dogs and went back along the track. So Quadi and I stood and watched her until they were well onto the next section and off we went. He was fab! He wasn't too gung-ho, went off my leg when asked, slowed to my whistle and responded to a small (but not sharp!) check on the rein when I felt him try to level out.

We walked to the next track I wanted to canter to and the dog-walker was up in front. Quadi was feeling a little fruity so I decided to walk this bit.

And we went around again. This time I walked him at the part we had cantered at 10 minutes before and let him have a good canter up the track we previously walked. I had a little trouble establishing brakes this time but he was fine. Took a little moment to settle but we marched back through the forest on a slightly different route from the one we had ventured out on.

I let him pick his paths and he seemed to pick lots with low, spiky branches! Hence my getting a gob full of nature and twigs, pleh!

I've been having a very crappy couple of days but was much cheerier after riding my pony, he was exactly the horses I needed him to be today. I'm having a day or two away from the yard and life in general in order to sort my head out, and hopefully I can be the trainer he needs me to be again. I'm responsible for my own mood and feelings but sadly they're somewhat out of whack. I was feeling grumpy that I'd have to miss out on a couple of horsey days but then it occured to me that I couldn't guarantee it would be a positive experience for either of us, in my current humour.

He was a doll for me today though :)