work it up, work it down

It was windy and chilly-willy at the barn last night, so I expected Tesla to be a bit more "high" than usual.

She was surprisingly chill - but a little over-eager as I attached the side reins (reading my body language as asking her to move over, "look - such a good girl I read your mind!") Lot of jumps were set up, which meant our longing circle was smaller than usual - so small that GIANTESS thought she couldn't canter, and started to get hot when I asked a few times...so we came back down to a trot - regained some cool and worked on some lovely walk-trot transitions.

I popped on, she was very forward but still a bit nervous - so we worked at the walk: deliberate, working her in geometries around the ring, playing with the gas pedal, and half-way through, I halted her and made a school-girl fuss about how good she was - she gave a huge sigh and then I had no problem getting her to focus and relax for the remainder of the ride.

Glad to see that even if we work it up, we can work it back down :)