13th March

Had a dreadful session earlier in the week, so much so that i didnt even write down my notes! Once again it was Gidy's new game of taking me off the the left, she took me into the electric fencing (off), I got really mad, so got off, and then made her move her feet on the ground, hopped back on, did some LFs and then got off

Today, I had a plan, cuz if we dont get through this soon, it is going to become a really ingrained pattern like the grass eating used to be... as I am finding it impossible to be effective with stick / string etc, I decided to change approach and took down a long dressage whip. Set things up so I was at the top of the field to give me more room to try and stop her getting to the fence on the left, so literally just tried to ride straight lines along the top, there it was, she tried to set off to the left, so I gave her a good old firm tap on the outside quarters, and held the right rein.. bingo, this seemed to do the trick, tried once more, again got a good result, so rode that unbraced body to the top right, then released and got off. Releasing and turning her out when we have achieved something, even if tiny on the ground has made a big difference, so made a point of doing this

So whilst a dressage whip is not my first tool of choice, it is much kinder than getting into a kicking pulling, bracing, unhappy situation, so I am happy with my decision making on that