If you can't dance, have fun in the sun!

Stella might not be a suitable 'dancing partner' for dressage but of course we still 'partner,' sometimes schooling in the arena and sometimes riding around the hill. My goal continues to be riding her in a way  that preserves and promotes long-term soundness and encourages relaxation. To do that, I have to keep the bugs out of her ears. The 'ear gnats' are really bad this year and I haven't found a repellant that works great, so when we're riding I use this ear bonnet:

Another goal is to increase Stella's and my levels of enjoyment. To that end, at the end of June I reached out to an acquaintance who in the past has posted photos from endurance training rides, wondering if she ever rides close to home and if she'd like company. She responded that she has lost all her riding buddies and would love to put on some miles with someone! We compared schedules and within a week, met up at Perrydale Trails on a gorgeous afternoon. Besides availing ourselves of the many obstacles to ride on/over/through, we spent quite a bit of time just riding the trails through the overgrown Christmas trees and along the mowed fields, putting on miles.

Christine and Lark check out one of the water obstacles

Stella and I consider the 'curtain' of hard plastic slats

Christine and Lark check out the fake llama

Two weeks later, we hauled our horses to Pacific City on another perfect day for a ride. This was Stella's first experience at the coast, and she was AWESOME. 😁

Teamwork makes the dream work; Christine's truck and my trailer

We crested the dune and Stella got her first look at an ocean

Christine & Lark on the right; a lady who came by herself on the left

Stella's ears show her uncertainty in spite of Lark's example

getting better!

Christine kindly took the following photos of Stella and me, documenting our progress from "ocean observant" to bombing through the shallows. Stella loves to go, so she really seemed to relish the long stretches of trotting (and some cantering).

After reaching the bay to the south, shown above, we turned around and headed back. Stella still had a lot  of "go," but – dare I say it? She actually r-e-l-a-x-e-d a little!

heading back through the trees to the parking lot

This was my first beach ride in years, and it made me SO happy. The only thing that could have made it better would have been an outgoing tide for a broader swath of packed sand to ride on, but with Stella's willingness to get her feet wet, we managed just fine. How I would love to live close enough to do this every week!

Our next ride with Christine will have to wait until mid-August after she returns from a trip. In the meantime, the two rides we've had have helped my outlook immensely, and given me more to look forward to with my beautiful, hot mare.

How do you solve a problem like Maria Stella?

The last time I posted anything about Stella was in March 2023. I know, I've been a very lax dressage blogger. That's because there hasn't been much to blog about. In short, despite countless hours spent caring for and riding Stella, many lessons with Suzan, and the three shows in which we've competed since my last post, it doesn't feel like we've made any progress. In fact, I think things have gotten worse. Oh, her training is farther along, but her tenseness has only increased, no matter what I've tried. Years ago when my first Morgan was young, a good friend told me that eight was the magic age for mental maturity in Morgans. Stella is now eight, and hotter than she's ever been. (That same friend now thinks I should try endurance riding with her, but that would take more time and hauling than I could fit into my life and I'm not convinced it would change anything.) Relaxation is foundational in dressage but is foreign to Stella, so there is no point in trying to show her anymore, or even take lessons. And while I persevere in working with her, I don't think either of us is having much fun.

Earlier this year I felt so hopeless that I called Suzan to get her advice. I'm not sure what I expected, but she surprised me by saying that Stella is the hottest horse she's ever worked with. She thinks that I'm doing an amazing job with her, and that anyone else would probably totally blow Stella's mind and ruin her. Said that breeding her might settle her mentally, but I don't have any interest in doing that. That suggestion did make me wonder out loud about putting Stella on Regu-Mate, and Suzan thought it was worth a try. Unfortunately, like the two 'calming supplements' I've tried, Regu-Mate didn't affect any change in Stella, so after a couple months I stopped using it.

I don't know how to solve a problem like Stella. Maybe a horse better suited to dressage will fall into my lap someday; maybe a guaranteed breeding-only home will open up for Stella. In the meantime I'll keep riding because that's who I am and it keeps my riding muscles in shape.

Looking through a year's worth of photos, below, gives me pleasure because she's just so beautiful, and makes me want to cry from frustration. Unless and until that changes, there will be no new posts here, because we are not dancing.