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

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Earning his keep

Lance and I have another student! (I say 'another' because Stella always stands at her paddock railing watching whenever I ride Lance in the arena; I think horses can learn by watching others being worked.) Recently a friend, now in Hawaii, asked if I'd be open to giving lessons to a friend of hers. After talking to this friend-of-a-friend I believed Lance and I could help, so we scheduled her first lesson for yesterday.

Yesterday was a washout, weather-wise. We were planning to proceed with the lesson regardless, in the barn if necessary, but lo and behold, it stopped raining while M was here! Other than Lance being extraordinarily sluggish, the lesson went well, and M is coming again next week.

Meanwhile, I've incorporated something new with Stella, thanks to a different friend's suggestion. She has this book,

and suggested I try the 'body wrap' on Stella, texting me photos of the pertinent pages. Below is a photo of her wearing it for the first tine and walking, looking deceptively calm. Trust me; she was anything BUT! I do think, now that I've worked her in it three times, that it is helping her reactivity, which has only gotten worse during this season of limited turn-out. (After this introduction, she has been wearing it under her tail.)

Decades I learned just a little about Linda Tellington-Jones and TTouch, so I looked into the book and ended up ordering my own copy. Once I did that a Kindle version was made available, which I've been reading on my laptop. So much of what she says resonates; the philosophy is so similar to what I've heard from Anna Blake and the exercises remind me of Jec Ballou's. I look forward to furthering my education and my horses' training!

3 comments:

A :-) said...

That blue and her black - just stunning!

Michelle said...

Yes, that bright royal blue really is HER color, A.

marlane said...

Linda Tellington Jones I remember the most for her labyrinth exercises I have one of her books here somewhere.