Eole - june 11, 2009

Large indoor arena for us alone! Started with walk session, neck and back relaxation with small flexions on low, extended neck with nose in the dust, alternating with cession de machoire with neck high. Then, all the range of two tracks works (shoulder-in, counter shoulder-in, travers, renvers, half pass, leg yield with inside bend...) interspersed with halts on the middle line, most of them quite nice and square. Then a few minutes posting trot with speed changes, followed by sitting trot with same beautiful display of two tracks exercises than at walk. Not a single resistance. Horse mellow and energetic, on the bit with bright white froth, beautiful cadence. In shoulder-in, I asked halts and strike-off again without alteration of the bend. I was pleased to see that Eole did it as if gliding - a very nice feeling of 'rondeur' (roundness) indeed. This particular phase had initiated the disorders I had reported earlier that I observed with the lady rider.
Then the coach had arrived and we devoted the rest of the session to canter work, which was exhilarating. Speed variations from slow, collected canter to strong canter on the large side with seamless return to slow canter on the small side, without alteration of poll level, only a slight opening/closing of the head neck angle depending on the speed. It feels great to achieve this on a horse like Eole: a warm horse like him can offer impressive speed changes, but of course the counterpart is to have aids very light in order to avoid any 'boiling up' and subsequent disorders. The beauty with him is that this will not happen at all with correct aids.
Then we did half-pass from corner to middle line, and spirals down to very small circles, touching half pirouette. Finally, I let him extend his neck, nose in the dust, at slow canter witout hands nor legs, just 'chest'. His back went up and relaxed, and he kept hindquarters engaged which the coach complimented on. Great session indeed.
We went back light-hearted, and I was happy (he too!) to bring him to the paddock for grazing during the rest of this lovely Spring day.