Several times recently I have been at demos which have told me that when I’m working on something with a horse and they get it right I should stop.  This is something I know very well in theory but for some reason I find it very hard to put into practice.

It is just so tempting to think, ‘Hurrah he’s got it – we’ll just do it once more and then we can stop.’  Of course, then we make a complete mess of it and end up doing whatever it was five times more until we get it right again.  Every time it happens I remind myself that next time I must reward Galahad by stopping as soon as we get it right.

Yes Galahad is still wearing tinsel here. I took the picture last weekend – before Twelfth Night. All tinsel has since been removed!

It’s not necessarily that easy though.  We have recently been working on a pole work exercise which doesn’t always go to plan.  Today we got it right first time and it’s very difficult to stop after only one attempt – it doesn’t feel like a proper schooling session at all!  It’s yet another thing which will take time to learn.