Another day another terrific ride!

A day has not gone by with Blu where I have not walked away and said my gratitude prayers. He is just the most special horse and I have been blessed to have him come into my life. Even his darkest days when his feet were sore, his back was out and he had a hard time turning, he always tried his very hardest and never said "no". I remember driving down the Minnesota highway listening to Dr. Liz tell me the dire story of Blu's afflictions. She told me she would fix him and that she is doing. While we have a bit to go the worst is behind us and we are getting to the really fun stuff...

Tonight I took a lesson after a week of little work. Blu had his hocks injected a week ago and I slowly brought him back these past 7 days. OK maybe I babied him a bit too much but what the heck he deserved it and loved every moment of being large and in charge. While he was not really bad behind I noticed just a bit of a difference in his trot and he creaked a bit when walking so Dr. Liz agreed it was time for hock injections. Creak you say? Yes, just like my joints can creak so did his right hock. The injections were just the fix because his trot had more air time and he was much more sound in his work to the right.

So tonight we focused on Blu letting go -- letting go at the base of his wither and giving through his back. As an adult amateur I find this at times challenging but I definitely got the feel for it and hope now to continue to replicate in my rides. We did alot of transitions within the gaits and he just loved the passage work. What a kick in the pants!!!

We did all sorts of good stuff tonight -- a lot of canter work. Blu challenges me to stay on my inside seat bone. If I shift my weight a smidge the flying lead change is there for me. We worked on straightness in the canter and he gave it to me with a bit of a grumble but once he decided to give it he was perfect and as a result so was I :-) We did some broken lines and then canter half pass from the center line. The center line was a challenge because it involves a 10m half circle -- not the easiest for him right now but I prepared him well after our first try and it was just beautiful. His half-pass was effortless in both directions.

Linda felt our work was strong and we need to think of showing. She suggested we get off the farm for a schooling show/ ride/critique this fall and then plan to quickly get my bronze medal scores in the spring. She feels the St. George ride could be ours next year. Yay! Yay!Yay! and within a couple more weeks I should be ready to start the tempis... Me ... tempis... can you just believe that? My dream is coming true.... Pinch me.