Lancelot - first solo hack and first schooling session

Yesterday Mike took Lancelot out for a hack on his own. It was his first time and when he got back Mike said he had been very strong and really wanted to canter as fast as possible.


Today I took Lancelot to the yard for a proper schooling session with Damien. He was a bit silly at first because the carriere was full of jumps from their concours a few weeks ago and he kept looking hard at the fillers and things but Damien has a fab seat and wasn't at all bothered. Lancelot decided at first that he really didn't want to trot and would rather canter round but after a couple of minutes they settled down and Damien really did work him beautifully. He kept a nice forward speed and made him accept the contact. Within a few minutes L-lot was dripping saliva from his mouth. This was something I had been worrying about as he always seems to have such a dry mouth and never mouths the bit but today all was as it should be.

They trotted on both reins and as time went on L-lot lowered his head and started to really work properly. Damien did some cantering on both reins and he settled to a nice loping stride. they did a few 20 metre circles and although you could see his greenness he coped really well and was lovely and light on his feet. The reason I wanted him to go there is that I feel I have no brakes but Damien introduced some downward transitions and also some halts and made him stand for a minute before moving off and he was fine. I think the problem has been not being able to do anything other than walk for so long and Lot was impatient.

At the end Damien popped him over a couple of very low jumps ie about 8" high and although he jumped them as though they were a metre high he was happy to do it.

They schooled all in all for about 40 minutes but I didn't want to push him and I was over the moon with how he performed.

I have booked him in for once a week with Damien and then after Christmas I will start to have a group flat lesson with him.

I love my neddy and he is such a good boy. When you look at the pics you will see that he has no muscle tone at all and looks quite weak in his neck and quarters but he has had 6 weeks box rest and then only walking for 10 - 15 mins a day in the sand school since so he now needs some serious work to build him back up.