Once again too much time has lapsed between posts. Ridiculous, I know... its been a bit chilly and rainy here in SC but we had an amazing day on Saturday so I feel as if I can complain nearly 70 degrees in February, woot woot.
D has been moving on pretty steadily. We've had some excellent lessons. Our most recent one will probably save my legs since Kim identified how I was holding him up too much and if I eased back on my reins he would have to reach for them and therefore balance himself. Since she is a genius instructor (person in general) this of course worked, saving my knees and legs and producing a really excellent big stride in my horse that did not involve him being on the forehand. It was amazing!!
In other news, he and Ayla seem quite happy in the pasture. She tolerates him and does look after him and so the companionship seems to suit. D has been by himself so it doesn't affect him much and Julian still comes down to the fence to hang out with him. :)
Grace has moved on. You'll see from the photo that she really grew up in a year. We hadn't been able to use her the way we hoped due to logistics and then there were just too many things that wanted to eat her. The opportunity arose for her to go to an actual goat farm and so we took it. We've been told that she is happy and has lots of friends, so we have an ending of an experiment but we never counted on being able to use Ayla as a companion so that has been cool.
One thing that D has been doing to me a lot lately is psyching me out. I have been having a time of it riding him consistently with my work schedule and even when he has only gone a day or two I am having a hard time gaging his energy level. Sometimes he is fine and other times even if he was worked the day before the boy just wants to run. When he communicates this with me by spinning I am less than thrilled but honestly when I get off and let him run, he is silly happy. My goal is to continue to learn his body so that I can avoid his spins since they are not my favorite and constantly re-injure my hand... but I prefer that over flipping through the air.
This week we were working really well and I got excited and decided to let him canter. I love to canter and D has a pretty amazing one but often leads his transition with a buck, just depends. Plus, balancing D at the canter is quite challenging. Not just for D, for any horse, the rhythm is quicker and a little different for the rider as far as leg work. Plus, D's answer to any feeling of unbalance is to go faster. This is not always a great combo but I was feeling pretty good about life and his level of listening so I asked him for it. We had the hugest buck, ever, all 4 fee left the ground... and ya know what? I didn't go anywhere. BUT the only one who saw it was one of the lesson girls and well, I'm not sure it aided her thoughts while on Choo :) This was one of those bucks that required a camera and validation. Ahh well, I stayed on and was laughing- silly horse. It also required him needing some time to get that energy out next ride.
D is still extremely unbalanced at times and some rides go better than others but he is maintaining. He looks good and is quite happy despite bright yellow dots in his eyes and we look forward to summer which means more time for rides however, we are not looking forward so much to the bugs. :) My horse is constantly teaching that our partnership is so much more than the riding. Its about our time together, the journey we are on and what we learn about each other as we forge ahead.
