Teaching Wendy

Wendy, my star beginner student, cantered off the longe line for the first time tonight. She hasn't been riding much, being the single mother of three its hard for her to get here, but tonight she truly had a "click"--she suddenly was posting, turning, circling, trotting over poles, keeping her hands down, and just pretty much riding. I let her just ride around for awhile without saying much (sometimes the teacher just needs to shut up) and then I asked her if she wanted to canter, which she did. Volare the saint picked up the wrong lead, and then swapped on his own (yes, he's a saint) before I even had a chance to explain the whole lead thing to her. Then we tried again, and she cantered around about three quarters of the arena, justing sitting there and enjoying it.
Wow. She's so talented. And she's coming to riding so late-- at 36--but it doesn't matter. She loves it and she's a total joy to watch as she learns.