Nov 5th

Someone did NOT want to be caught today! But perseverence and carrot
eventually won the day. It probably took about ten minutes to catch
him, not that long really I suppose. He just kept walking/trotting
away. Yesterday we rode for quite a while and he was probably a bit
stiff from that, probably thought why the heck would I let you ride me
again?? But he gave in to bribery and was very good when I rode him,
we went down the road and down alongside the river. He is a bit touchy
on the stones though, doesn't like walking on gravel or anything.

Yesterday they had pony club games practice at the park, that was terribly interesting! He could barely tear himself away from watching everyone :)
We've been for a ride past the skate park, past the cricket batting cages,
along the road, been passed by a bus, through narrow gateways, been weaving in
and out of the trees along park ave at trot and canter, racing Heather
up the big hills, and jumping on and off the box jump. He can now jump
off very nicely but tends to scramble up slightly :) Just getting his
coordination worked out.

As far as bridling and stuff is going, he's getting better at that. I
took the clips off the reins because I wanted a more even steady
contact onto the bit as I am riding into a contact more now, so we are
having to have the reins over our head and back again, this is
sometimes a bit horrifying but after a reminder that we are not being
ridiculous about our head anymore, he's fine. It's really all in his
head, and a stern "excuse me? What are you doing?" is usually
sufficient to remind him to stop being such a cabbage.

Tomorrow we are going for a gentle hack down to the beach in the
morning, weather permitting. Wonder what he'll make of the waves... :) Will try and get some pics.