I am thrilled to report that I have nothing of interest to share ...
Speedy is sound. We have a lesson with the always fabulous Chemaine in Moorpark tomorrow. We're going to a CDS-rated show on Sunday. See? Nothing to report.
And what of Izzy? In my last post I shared how well he is doing. He got that day off that I mentioned, but then it was back to work. While it's boring to write about, I couldn't be happier slogging through the basics.
Speedy is sound. We have a lesson with the always fabulous Chemaine in Moorpark tomorrow. We're going to a CDS-rated show on Sunday. See? Nothing to report.
And what of Izzy? In my last post I shared how well he is doing. He got that day off that I mentioned, but then it was back to work. While it's boring to write about, I couldn't be happier slogging through the basics.
Turn out after a ride on Sunday.
I've ridden my whole life. For more than thirty years my rides were about covering distance over a trail. Sometimes the way was marked with pink ribbon to guide me, other times I took whichever fork in the road looked good. I started lots of green horses, and all of them were happy and well broke to their job.
Starting Izzy has been different. I am not saying I know a lot (or even a little for that matter), but it sure has been fun applying the dressage that I have learned. Someone said that starting Izzy would be a whole lot easier than it was with Sydney. Whoever you are, you were right!
Starting Izzy has been different. I am not saying I know a lot (or even a little for that matter), but it sure has been fun applying the dressage that I have learned. Someone said that starting Izzy would be a whole lot easier than it was with Sydney. Whoever you are, you were right!
He's turning out to be pretty handsome.
As we've worked on those 20-meter circles this week, everything that I've learned with Speedy has been at my fingertips to help me. When Izzy starts to get unbalanced and falls forward, I know how to help him. When he starts to drift to the outside or fall to the inside, I know how to straighten him back up. We are following the pyramid carefully - right now, we're maintaining a rhythm, encouraging relaxation, and establishing a good connection. Impulsion and straightness are right around the corner!
He's got the shiny gene!
A Work in Progress shared a really funny post the other day that made me laugh. It also encouraged me to stick with those basics and get them right since we'll be working on them forever.
From the warm up we moved into collected work. I wish I could say that this involved half passes and tempis and Very Fancy Dressage Things, but the reality of training the upper levels is that you're basically doing the same circles you were doing at the lower levels, but with shorter reins and more sweating and cursing.
- A Work in Progress
I am happy to be schooling those boring basics. The better we get them now, the less sweating and cursing there will be later. At least I hope so!
