Introducing Ms Jekyll and Mrs Hyde

Meg could not decide if she was a megastar or a megacow today, bless her! Had an, er, interesting ride. Some really lovely work where she was soft, active, forward and willing and then there were the other 'moments' when she was doing her very best to catapult me from here into tomorrow! Walk and trot work was, for the most part, great but her canter transitions sucked the big kumara and when we finally got a couple of decent ones she ruined them by doing handstands when I asked her to keep going when she thought it was time to stop. Not sure if she was having a bad day or if I was doing something wrong or perhaps if it was the fact that it rained a few days ago and she is in a paddock with an inelegant sufficiency of the green stuff - I am picking the latter!

After riding (I called it quits a bit early because we were just going to end up having a big argument and I wanted to avoid that and end on a good note, which we did) I popped her on the lunge to have another crack at jumping. I think the problem earlier was the jumps were too small, she flew over 1m as if she had been doing it all her life - now to find some balls and actually jump her whilst in the saddle ...

I also rode Brennan, in the 16.5" saddle that I am borrowing from Karen. Ironically I felt as secure and comfortable on him as I have ever felt but it is a better fit on him than anything else that I have tried so that could very well be the reason. I used a towel to lift the front as it tips ever so slightly forward and he did some lovely work for me. Thank GOD he doesn't buck as I am sure I would exit stage left if he did! He's off to Solway tomorrow for a dressage rally. I only plan on taking him for a look about but will hopefully be picking Jess up on the way so, if he seems to be handling it, I will tack him up and throw her on board and see how we go. Fingers and toes crossed.

Hope you enjoy today's photos: