Every ride I learn something new

What a terrific ride last night. I took a lesson and got my butt kicked ... in a good way. Blu is feeling oh so good and we did a lot of work on developing the quality of the trot... asking for more lift ... the feeling of passage without passaging. My warm up was very good and by the time Linda arrived we were ready to go. He was loose and fairly supple. I have a hard time judging how straight he is behind so with her guidance I was able to ride him straight and really concentrated on keeping the bend around my inside leg... this is the toughest thing for me to do. By the end of the trot tour Linda said we were really dancing together -- half passing, leg yielding, shoulder-in. What a nice thought ... wish I could have seen it. I did not look in the mirrors... I was too busy concentrating :-)

We then went to work at the canter. While I have always thought of this canter as my "go-to" gait it is now not his best. I do not mean to make it sound like a train wreck. It is still very good it is just that his trot has come such a long way. So my job is to get that suppleness, straightness and lift at the canter. We worked at it and it improved dramatically soooooooo..... we then worked on quarter turns at the canter placing Blu back on his haunches, canter/ walk transitions and then... drum roll ..... working canter pirouettes!!! I felt my first real canter pirouette!!!! WOW... It was awesome. When Linda asked me to do it I was dumbfounded. My mind went blank and I thought "Is she talking to me???" She definitely does not let you move ahead until you are ready so off we went to give it our best. The first one was a bit all over the place but the second was spot on! It was like Blu was saying to me, "Finally she got it right"... He is such a hoot. After that he got lots of praise and hugs but all he really wanted was the sugar in my pocket!!! Several people were in the ring and watched the scene unfold. All stopped to say how wonderful he was... Linda piped in that she thought I gave him a wonderful ride :-) It was a shadbelly ride for sure!