To ride dressage is to dance with your horse, equal partners in the delicate and sometimes difficult work of creating harmony and beauty.

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Sunshine and satisfaction

I had a great ride on Lance today; it really couldn't have been any better. I was home alone, so no distractions other than the occasional fly, the weather was perfection, and my handsome Lance did everything I asked for quite nicely – including all his canter departs! What made this particularly exciting is that I used my Marvel saddle. I stopped using it when Lance developed a bit of an attitude over right lead canter departs for fear that it wasn't fitting him well. At our last lesson, Julie thought Lance's attitude was just that of a typical five-year-old, and instructed me on how to keep his trot work more honest in order to get good canter departs. He's been getting better and better at them ever since, and switching from the old Wintec back to the Marvel was a non-issue. I actually rode in it last Wednesday, too.

When we finished, Lance had foam on his lips and sweat on his neck. I had a smile on my face and anticipation in my heart for our next lesson with Julie on the 15th!

2 comments:

Mary Ann said...

I have been reading down through the posts... what I like best about your riding is that you do it for the satisfaction of Lance's having been trained and ridden right, and your own learning... not just as a perennial show horse.. What a good feeling that must bring! The horses all looked so happy and healthy!

Mary said...

Nothing better than a good ride and tired horse /rider afterwards. My black beauty is finishing his pro training this week!