rain stopped play

I think it has only stopped raining for 2 or 3 hours out of the last 24 and consequently I relented and brought the boys in tonight. Can't say they seemed grateful but I shall sleep better.

I haven't blogged for a couple of days due to the stormy weather and awful broadband connection but this was yesterday's work in-hand. Actually it's the first 5 minutes before I ran out of battery, I'm useless, lol!! I can't seem to get it onto movie maker to edit so it's all boring stuff except a few seconds from 1 minute where I'm really pleased because the entwickeln (shoulder-in, straight, shoulder-in/leg yield) is much more fluent and I'm especially pleased that we can also control the quarters coming off the track. That really is the power of video evidence, in the absence of regular training I can at least kick my own butt!!

I have lots still to cover on aids/turning but every spare moment is currently invested in paddock topping or painting; hence my brain is full of thought but nothing committed to print.

entwickeln

I love learning something new and by chance I happened (on EE) to discover the shoulder-in entwickeln exercise of Walter Zettl today. You can read all about it here http://www.walterzettl.net/pages/exercise.html and it's a great one to have in the tool kit. I tried it in walk and trot today and it really does open out the shoulder and help the balance. I tried it in conjunction with another shoulder-in exercise I use; shoulder-in down centre line, straighten half pass (same inside bend) straighten shoulder-in opposite rein, straighten, half pass and so on.
Can't wait to ride tomorrow and play some more.