One rein and passenger riding in the arena yesterday.  The one rein riding was pretty abysmal to start.  Used the right rein.  Turning right was easy, turning left was impossible.  Poor Balthazar became frustrated with the confusing signals and would break into a trot reasoning I suppose that he might be able to run away from that annoying and unintelligible pressure.  We are of course riding in a homemade bitless bridle so even if I tried too hard and the pressure became more than a suggestion no harm was done.  Actually if it didn't work I was pretty quick to give it away.  More doesn't necessarily equal better communication.

But we continued.  Remembered to use my weight, to place the rein high up on his neck so that the communication was in broad strokes and also asked him to bend around my left leg as normal.  I was too focussed on the rein and forgot that there were these other ways to communicate.  By the end of the session we were much better.  Not smooth, not perfect but at least we were turning.

The passenger riding was fun.  Did a lot of walking to start.  Normally Balthazar would high tail  it to the end nearest the horses and hover there but he just kept walking from one end  of the arena to the other.  Walking with good animation too which was nice.  He wasn't trailing along like he was bored or disinterested.  He showed no desire to go outside of the arena unless I specifically asked him.  When we started trotting he thought he'd have a little head toss and head down (preparing to buck perhaps?) but I said 'None of that!' in a firm voice and he quit.  Was a little nervous in case he decided to jump the electrical poles which form the arena, as that would also be an invitation to buck, but he never tried, he just kept turning before he got to them.  It was good practice for me to ride in as balanced a manner as possible and to be alert to any nuance in weight shift so that I could be with him rather than get in his way. 

Today I went out to the paddock and approached him.  Stopped about 15 feet away and he came to me.  This makes me so happy.  It wasn't so long ago that, although he always let me catch him, it was on sufferance and because I had a carrot.  Although he doesn't always walk to meet me or companion walk with me in the morning or act like my best buddy in a consistent way, there is a spark of a connection which was missing before.  So today he came to meet me, I slipped the halter on and took him out to graze on the lush green grass on the side of the road for half an hour.

Another lovely thing is when I release him either at the end of riding or groundwork or at the end of a session of grazing, he doesn't race back to the others.  He hangs around to see what I'm doing and eventually ambles off in a relaxed and casual manner.   I've written this before but it's worth mentioning again.  In all my years of riding I lost track of the unadulterated and simple joy of just being with the horses.  It's taken me all this time to discover it again.