Daisy gave me some very helpful training tips last weekend, one of which was “Do not get on unless you have everything right on the ground”.

Today I was going to ride Dreki but he came in on his tippy-toes and so I made the executive decision not to.  I am a great believer in setting ourselves up to succeed.

We did long-reining instead.

We worked on steering and stop and go commands.

Dreki was an arse to start with and I was relieved I hadn’t ridden him but after a few circuits, he remembered what to do.

Our steering had a few “moments” and failures but I was overall pleased by the end of the session.

And here is a sight you don’t often see – me running. I had Dreki trotting down the long sides and coming back to walk with a nice calm transition.

He was excellent at that.  So like his Dad.  No pulling.

And afterwards, we nailed halt beautifully.

Then we did it all again on the other rein.

Floss was with me on camera and, after the long-reining, I ran Dreki around the school because I wanted to see if we could capture any tölt.  I am not sure.  I have slowed the film right down at the point where I think I see a step or two.  I think so……. but he does have a lovely trot.  Just like his Dad.