Dressage = patience

Patience has never been one of my virtues. While I am an equal opportunity impatient person being the most impatient with myself, I have learned through animals (especially horses) and dressage if I just wait a moment the most wonderful opportunities and progress can be witnessed.

Just yesterday Blu schooled me yet again in sitting still in the moment. During a lesson our job was to just canter straight down the center line without changing leads. Sounds easy and on any given day we can do it but last night -- not so much. I spent my day sitting at my desk and got up at 4;30 pm to head for the barn. My left hip was aching so dropping my weight into it was not happening. Blu took this as his signal to swap leads. ARGHHHH.... I finally settled my mind and concentrated on distributing my weight so lead swapping was not an option. I rose above the discomfort, found a zen moment and voila it worked!

We had a great lesson. We worked on refining the canter/ walk transition since this will be the key to truly great changes -- we did have some very good ones tonight :-) We also worked on some quarter canter pirouettes all from the seat... he was awesome and as a result so was I! The end was long and low and we were once again FABULOUS!

My hips have been really sore and tight. I hate this cold weather... Yet despite it all Blu still tries his hardest and teaches me the very best lessons with his confident manner and his ever so kind demeanor. He is a true school master and I just have to stop and listen.

Old man winter ... take that!

Winter is around the corner and it showed itself through Blu's shaggy winter coat. It got to a point that he was soaked after a ride so with my trusty clippers I gave him his winter hair cut. As I did with the girls when they were little, I gave him the most unique look. I think racing stripes could look good on a gray Oldenburg. He was quite good for his right side taking it all in stride and standing very still. When I moved to his left he became quite ticklish and had trouble standing still... His tail swished and he twitched all over.Never did he put a foot wrong but he let me know I was driving him crazy. Must be like having your feet tickled. I bribed him with treats and took a couple of breaks and before you know it I was wearing more fur than him! I got him another light weight blanket insulator and on warm days he wears his plaid sheet in the barn and his Rambo rain sheet when turned out. He loves having the blanket taken off and being scratched all over with the curry. He even loves to be vacuumed.

His work is coming along nicely. His counter canter is solid and he loves warming up/ cooling down on a loose rein. He really stretches into it without much coaxing. At first he was confused as to what was being asked but quickly he understood and happily took the bit and carried himself in a light long and low frame. His counter canter is remarkable... I say remarkable because I am able to ride it with ease. His changes are good but still need work to keep them up hill and not croup high. He has again demonstrated his penchant for half steps, piaffe and passage. I am staying away from this work since it is his fall back move when he does not want to work on the hard stuff. Best of all his stride is getting bigger and his back is getting stronger. All in all he is a very happy boy.