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

Monday, June 16, 2014

Scratching the itch

Lance is an itchy boy – every spring a section of his mane disappears and his tail head gets fuzzy from all the rubbing. He doesn't have worms, and doesn't get welts from bug bites like Russell did, so I'm not sure what his problem is. Maybe he's just itchy, like I am. (My husband says I'm the itchiest person he's ever seen.)

When I can't see Lance when the horses are out on pasture, I look towards the trees.


The other day, Oliver came over and offered to help. "Thanks, buddy."

It feels good to scratch the riding itch, too. Last week I took Lance out for a walk about our hill nearly every day, building strength without the strain of schooling. The farrier was here on Friday, and I was relieved to find that Lance's Renegade boots fit again afterwards, since some of our walkabout is on gravel.

This week I'll add some schooling sessions when I can, and plan to take a lesson with Suzan on Thursday. Hopefully she'll get a better idea of Lance's true personality and capabilities now that his back is more comfortable!

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