Proof of the Pudding

I was so thrilled on Saturday this last week – but, oh! I’m getting ahead of myself.

 
-  Spot the husky taking herself for a walk  -

So what happened was that I was cooling Copper off and our husky, Amabelle, decides to take herself for a walk. I was calling and whistling, but either she’s so old and deaf, or deliberately dense (which she is smart enough to be!), so she was ignoring me and continuing to dog trot off down to the bottom of the jump paddock, and then down the trail that loops away from our yards!

I was just like “Uh-oh, if she goes down there, we’ll never get her back!”  I don’t know if she remembered from the few times I took her with me on a trail ride before, but because of the aforementioned oldness and deafness I knew that she just couldn’t go down that track by herself. We’d never get her back.

I ended up chasing her on Copper, and while I was focused on catching that darn dog and heading her back home, I couldn’t help but notice how supple and responsive Copper was beneath me. He just knew we had a job to do and he was the perfect team mate! His trot was so full of impulsion but so controllable – he was on ‘the aids’ like I’d never really felt him to be before.

In fact, now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever ridden a horse that felt like they were truly in front of my leg and listening to everything I was asking for….  This is very exciting for me!

It just proves dressage is great for improving your riding, and more importantly, improving your mount! I am having so much fun riding Copper, and the more we work at dressage, the more understanding we develop with each other and how to communicate with each other.  It really is too cool for words. I can’t even describe all the awesome.

-  Hi there partner! -

Oh – the dog! Well, we caught up and overtook her, she was all “Whhhattt?  I’m innocent I tell you!” but turned around and went home easily enough. *whew!*  She keep looking over her shoulder to see if I was still behind her with the horse, but I was - so no escaping for that little doggy. :D

I was so glad I was on Copper though; no way I could’ve chased her down while 26 weeks pregnant! I can hardly walk without getting out of breath, let alone run after her.

So that was our weekend ride, and it had some awesome results, but I’ll have to write up that separately ‘coz this post is already getting too long. :D

See ya,

bonita