Only had a short session with the boys this morning but pretty satisfactory with both. It is wonderful having both to work with now and the ideas seep between the two (pretty helpful). Both worked in-hand and of course Chapiro had the 'over' theme of calm, part of his lack of calmness is his worry over the whip; of course I don't HAVE to use one but it is extremely useful to be able to touch the haunches in the right places when necessary so I would like him to be more accepting. He has never been hit with a whip as far as I am aware, never with us and I can't imagine his breeder having used one as he was very lightly handled and she was very gentle with him. I'm not sure but I think it's akin to his fervent hatred of flies; for one it's the noise (if it brushes against me, the sand, the saddle etc)  and then it touches him in a place that is alien to where I am stood (ie his hind foot when I am at his head) he's already greatly improved but today I started with him at liberty and me sat on the mounting step. A little targeting of the whip and then some backing and walking on from aids given through the whip whilst I stayed in place on the step. Then on to some foot lifting from cues given by the whip, well we'll have to start piaffe training at some point :-) finished with giravolta and shoulder-in on the circle (after a conversation Di and I were having about the differences between the two I thought I'd work through them to highlight the difference.

Moo worked a little on spanish walk, giravolta and shoulder-in and was uber relaxed (he like many boys has his special way of showing this!) loads of long rein backs on straight and curved lines; he makes me smile.

Trims tomorrow, must remember to take pics.