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

Monday, November 28, 2016

Looking to the future, in spite of the present

As I shared on my farm blog, now more than ever my time is not my own. Add the often wet weather to everything, and there has been little to no riding time. I managed a ride last Monday and a short one yesterday evening, plus a brief turn-out in the arena last Friday to let Lance blow off some steam. Ha; turns out there was no head of steam – all he wanted to do was "join up"! I shooed him around for a little bit to take photos of his cute self, and then lead him back to his stall.

But that hasn't stopped me from dreaming of hitting the ballroom floor. Several weeks ago at a resale clothing shop I stumbled across a pair of Ariat Volant Front-Zip tall boots. The footbed was so comfortable that I almost bought them even though I needed a taller, slimmer shaft. That renewed my interest in replacing my old Cavallos (purchased second-hand at least 20 years ago) with a pair of zippered tall boots, rather pointless unless I'm going to show again sometime. I've been stalking eBay; yesterday I pulled the trigger on a pair of "glass slippers." ;-)

I also did a wee bit of CyberMonday shopping; I ordered a demo model of this to try for trail riding. Lance has periodic bouts of petechiae that make his mouth sore; I figured this would be more comfortable AND eliminate the need to disinfect his bit after every use. Here's hoping it works for us!

4 comments:

Mary said...

Tack shopping is great fun, and new boots would elevate your ride. Which reminds me that the EMT cut my boots off as they were field hunter style boots. He did save my favorite lavendar breeches.

Michelle said...

Oh Mary, that's terrible about your boots but I'm glad he spared the breeches! Brings to mind the old admonition to wear clean underwear, because you never know when you'll be in an accident and emergency personnel might see them. ;-)

A :-) said...

Love these photos of Lance :-)

Michelle said...

I'm glad you enjoyed them, A! I think he's handsome AND charming. :-D