The reprieve is over...

After three glorious lessons on Flossie, Joe and Trio, I was back on Herbie again today.  I don't like to say it, but I really hate that horse.

I accept that some horses are a challenge, and sometimes I don't mind that, but I don't know how to ride Herbie better!  He's fine in walk and trot (most of the time), but I can't get the bastard to canter.  I was given the option of wimping out on the cantering without stirrups, but I decided to try and did actually manage to get a better transition out of Herbie than when I'd tried with the stirrups - but I don't know what I did differently!  I decided to quite while I was ahead at that point, and declined to try on the other rein.

I asked Kelly at the end about requesting Herbie for the pub ride, and she said he doesn't normally go out on hacks because he's a bit excitable outside, which is exactly what I'm looking for, so I'm going to sign up for him and see what they say.

Austen bits and pieces

My brother completed my set of Everyman Austen volumes for my birthday, by presenting me with all the early and unfinished stuff.

In it are three main pieces - Sandition, 75 pages of the novel she was writing when she died; The Watsons, 50 pages of a novel she never finished for some reason; and Lady Susan, the epistolary novelette she wrote quite early on.

I'd never read Sandition before, and actually found it quite disappointing.  It takes a very long time to get going, all the characters except the herione are utterly ridiculous, and the heroine herself is not strong enough or well-defined enough to carry the narrative.  I'm sure Austen would have revised and polished it before publication, but it didn't seem up to standard.  The Watsons was much more promising, with a very likeable herione and the setting up of an interesting story - it reminded me quite a lot of Mansfield Park in some ways, since the penniless heroine is thrown upon the mercy of more well-off relatives and has to suffer the attentions of a man she has no interest in, but she's got a lot more spine than Fanny, so it's a shame we don't get the chance to see her complete her story.  Lady Susan is very silly - it strikes me as a fun excercise in creating a coherent narrative in the epistolary style, without being a serious attempt at writing something for publication - fun, but not particularly memorable.

All in all, an enjoyable if slightly frustrating read - more than anything, it made me want to read all six proper novels yet again!