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

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Call it a graduation "party"!

Yesterday was a banner day – my first ride on Cohort since he started showing his alter ego (Mr. Balky Butt) that he didn't need "remedial lunging"! He was still thinking about balking, but resolved the issue in his own mind every time and even moved out and relaxed a bit periodically. I was very proud of him, and told him so.

Perfect timing, then, that Cohort's owner and I had planned a casual "trail" ride out and about on our hill this morning. As expected, Horton was much happier out of the arena, and we had a lovely walkabout and visit, me on Horton and Sylvia on Breezy, Brian's pony.

Now that he's seen Pare e´, I have a feeling Horton and I are not gonna stay down on the farm as much. Over the years I've done a lot of my schooling in the nearby fields and cherry orchards, and now that we've been out with an escort, I'm comfortable doing that with Cohort on my own. The varied terrain is great for conditioning and I think it will be better for his brain.

4 comments:

sylkan said...

You got a fine photo of me and Breezy. Horton sure was stepping around trying to spoil the shot by walking over toward us. You must be very quick with that shutter. Now that Horton knows there's a whole big world out there, his attitude may do a big turnaround. Thanks for the fun ride, and thanks again to Brian for the loan of his pony.

Theresa said...

Congratulations! Horton will learn the world is his apple if he behaves himself. I bet Breezy enjoyed the ride too.

Laura said...

He may be a very well-trained trail horse, like my Arab, Shiloh. Once they get out of the arena boredom, it's hard to get them to settle back down and work there. I have faith that you will be able to pull it off - I couldn't. But then, I really enjoy trail riding more than arena riding too!

Marie said...

Wonderful news!!