Maybe it was the partial solar eclipse.  Maybe it was having a few days away from the arena.  Maybe it was just time.   Whatever it was, today was a banner day.  Balthazar shone.  We did 10 or 15 minutes online first. It was rather ho-hum and distracted to begin with.  Thought why is this so bad.  Why isn't he focussed?  Because I wasn't.  I allowed, even expected, that his work would be half-hearted.  I know he can do it so why do it quickly and cleanly?  If I'm bored with the work, what do I think I'm conveying to him?  Exactly.

So I focussed, became insistent and away we went.  Instantly.  It translated to under saddle too.  We were walking around the arena without purpose or so it appeared.  We had purpose but it was more a spray than a beam.  Once I pulled myself together Balthazar naturally followed.  We got some decent circles with almost no help from the reins.  We stayed on the wall and our cantering!  Our cantering was amazing.  He didn't break stride, he stayed on the rail, he turned nicely and to finish he cantered from the walk!  Yes, from the walk.  Okay, there may have been half a trot stride in there someplace but really it was like riding a hack. 

Balthazar has NEVER been able to to do that under saddle.  We have never just....cantered.  It was so quiet, smooth, instantaneous and sweet that I got off him.  What more could he give me?  What more could I ask?  It was only 20 minutes but the nicker he gave as I praised him was the icing on the cake. 

There's something quietly joyous about looking at a pair of pricked ears as my body rises and falls with the rhythm of the trot.  Took Balthazar to the end of the road and back.  We've had rain and haven't been out for a few days.  Today was an opportunity to look at the freshly scrubbed-of-dust world.  We've had so little rain this spring that everything has been cloaked with a film of bull dust.  Balthazar, despite being taken from a fresh paddock which actually has grass, seemed content to have a look too.  The birds were singing, the sky was blue and there were those ears at the end of a long red neck and the unparalleled aroma of warm horse.  What could be finer? 
     Made a decision a couple of weeks ago not to wear a helmet any more.  I've done the right thing for years but now I want to do what feels comfortable rather than always thinking 'safety first'.   Something about getting back to basics, why I love horses and why I  love to ride.  Wearing a helmet with this chin strap cutting into my throat wasn't one of them nor was having a hot sweaty head.  I'm wearing a faded woven blue hat with a huge brim and a paua shell pin on the crown.  It keeps the sun off my neck, shades my eyes so I can see and is lightweight and (relatively) cool.  The first few rides, especially when doing something 'dangerous' like cantering, were a bit scary.  It felt like driving a car at high speed without a safety belt on but now I'm used to it and like the feeling.   Of course I don't recommend anyone else do this.  I know how dangerous riding is but the odd thing is most accidents seem to involve something other than a split skull. 
    Yesterday I took Balthazar out for pick just to do something with him.  It seemed like I hadn't spent time with him for days which was true in a way although I see him morning and night.  On Thursday, think it was Thursday, we went up the hills and around.  Nothing to report.  It was a good ride and he was a good boy (of course).  It's starting to be enough that we ride even though we don't have a goal.  There's something to be said about the philosophy of that.  I've ridden for years with goals.  I'm not sure that's a good idea.  When I was a kid, with my first horse, a palomino called Sunny, I rode for joy.  Now that I'm older and am expected to seek and display my second childhood, I want to ride for joy again.  Wouldn't that be wonderful?  To finish up where I started.  I can think of no better goal than that.  

How easily horses are entertained.  When I took a fly veil to Dakota at the far end of the creek paddock I found 15' of black PVC pipe left by the floods and unearthed by our drought (Australian weather is nothing if not unpredictable).  Pulled it out of the grass and started for the gate.  Dakota, Balthazar and especially Pagan thought the pipe was a hoot.  They weren't afraid of it yet they pranced and danced and pirouetted as though it was a 15 foot python I was holding in my hands.  They followed me all the way to the yards and seemed disappointed when I pushed it through the gate for disposal. 
   About the ride.  25 minutes in the arena.  10 minutes online?  I am trying while online to get a reaction with less push and more distance.  We are somewhat successful.  His full pass along the fence is inconsistent.  And one sided.  He is better when passing left rather than right.  Probably easier for him to fall into his hollow side rather than walk into his stiff side.  At any rate.  As long as we're improving.  He's good at circling.  Funny too.  Sometimes he misinterprets a movement of mine as a request to stop realizes it isn't, catches himself and moves on.  Quite proud of him for that.
    More cantering today than we've ever done.  Got a little particular too.  He broke into trot a couple of times so I circled and asked him to canter again immediately.  Also asked for upward transitions when he started to get behind the leg and behind the bit.  Not as a punishment but to send him forward.  It worked well.  Still had lots of breaks, lots of praised.  Hopped off when he gave a nice step for a right TOF without sucking back or getting stressed.
    

The new hind boots came so we went for a burn up the road. It's the first time we've been out for weeks. The boots stayed put. Very pleased. Took us 45 minutes to go 6km. Used Balthazar as a ladder to pick some wattle seeds for the birds. Good practice for him to stand still while I leaned and reached this way and that. One advantage of these boots is the padding. I don't worry about trotting or cantering on hard ground as concussion is minimal. He was pretty good for not having been out in so long. Reluctant to leave the others naturally but I just kept him going and he soon walked/trotted/cantered himself out of it. I think sometimes he likes seeing new things.
I noticed something today. Riding on a loose rein I take turns holding the reins in my right and left hand. I rest my fingers on his withers to remind me not to interfere. Realized it was harder, like I had to stretch a little to keep my left hand there which of course turns my body slightly to the right - to his off/stiff side. Perhaps his perceived stiffness is only a reflection of my stiffness or, more likely, we reinforce one another's stiffness for he is stiff online as well as under saddle. He seemed to travel straighter when I rode using my left hand. So of course I will have to ride like that until it feels as easy as it does with the right. Hopefully it will help him, without doing anything overt, to straighten. Wouldn't that be something? Just changing hands makes that left hind step under more.
Yesterday just did 15 minutes online. Was going to ride but he did so well on the ground I thought that was enough. Besides, it's good to mix things up a bit. Took him out for 30 minutes pick so Balthazar could say that he had a really good and relaxing day!