Follow the Red Ribbon

The little spot of mud fever/mud rash has completely disappeared and we have been out and about several times. We also have had two further lessons with 'Rupert' which 'Lillian' and I shared.

The aim of the first of our gorup lesson was to walk and then trott over poles that had been arranged in a straight line on one side of the menage and starting straight but then ending in a curve on the other side.

Not as easy as it sounds because I AM USELESS with LEFT AND RIGHT. 

Instructor: "And now we go on the left rein!"

Me thinking: 'Left ... where is left. I am writing with my right hand so the hand I don't write with is the left hand. Now does it mean I have to have the left rein on the inside or outside?'

Same issue with "More left leg, and shorten the right rein."  - "Huh?"

By the time I have figured out where my left and right is, time has run out and we have gone way past whatever obstacle we were meaning to pass. Meanwhile 'Mr F' is wondering what on earth it is I want him to do ...

In this particular lesson, I only ONCE manged to trot over the poles in a straight line. 'Mr F' was having some good fun with me and used every moment of my confusion with left and right. He zigzagged, stumbled or avoided the poles altogether. I knew it was my fault but I had by now gone totally blank in my mind. Left, right and all instructions might as well have been shouted at a wall.

I went home very frustrated, with a very dissapointed 'Mr F'. He likes clear instructions and by now was fed up with all the mixed signals he had to put up with and wanted to get back home.

In an attempt to solve the left/right issue,  I put two differently coloured ribbons on 'Mr F's bridle; RED for RIGHT and BLUE for LEFT. 

To the amusement of 'Rupert' we turned up like this for our next lesson. It was easier for me but now 'Rupert' struggled with BLUE/RED!

But we managed. 'Mr F' was more pleased at the end of this session, and he IS my main critic, straight from the source.