the church of equitation

Awaking at 6.00am I fed and hayed with a little lightness in my step.....yay the back was much better and the stars twinkling in a dark sky. It's still really mild here and by 8.00am the sun was shining and just begging me to get out and play.
Took Moo into the school, very calm on the lunge and instant relaxing in the bit work. So I hopped on (well tbh it wasn't so much of a hop due to the back still being a little tight) and he was calm and relaxed. We worked on a very long rein to start, just riding voltes and turns, only allowing ourselves a few strides on a straight line before turning again. Couldn't use my back properly but he seemed to make allowances for me.
Encouraged by the long neck and stretching we went onto some reverse shoulder-in trying hard not to use any rein apart from keeping a light flexion. As the sun shone on the fence it obligingly threw a shadow onto the three quarter line which we used to good effect. As I've previously said, Moo gets very tight on the left shoulder-in and this results in him curling back, so using the lovely shadow on the 3/4 line I rode the shoulder-in away from the fence. Wow, what a difference and he actually stretched into some contact rather than screwing himself up into a ball.
Worked on the exercises that we did on Friday (reverse pirouette/turn about the haunches etc) and it is brilliant. I'll have to get some video sorted.
Finished with a little trot which was great until he over cooked!! Tried some reinback to trot which I think helped his balance in the transition. I'm thinking when my back is properly better that perhaps I should start with some trot work and then go back to the walk??? We'll see.

Anyway, thanks for the offer of help Di, very grateful to have a mate if needed. Also should say *hello* to English Rider who has become a follower, welcome and remember to comment some time!!