dressage training

We had a day off today, after getting right back to work this weekend. Belle is getting better and better with the saddle--only a matter of weeks now until she's reliable enough for me to sit on. And B has his homework for the next few months: Nailing the movements in second level test four and third level test three. He's been very cooperative for the past few days. We've been working on elasticity at all the gaits--having him jump through at the canter, rise over his back and into the bridle, and sit down on his haunches for push.

I got up this morning at ODark:30 to take a 7:00 am lesson with Rick Klaassen, a german master trainer. Last time I rode with Rick he spent an hour yelling at me. This time, he seemed really pleased with how far we'd come. I got lots of compliments. Could we be making progress? It's a miracle. Mostly we worked on bend on the circle, and leg yield down the long wall, both of which he's gotten much better at over the past year or so. I think if I ride with Rick once a year for the next three years, we might actually get somewhere...

I don't know why it took so long to discover Nicole. After all, she's been coming here for clinics for six or seven years, and its only in the last four that I've become a devotee.

Call me stubborn, but I've never wanted to be a "disciple" of a trainer. I know people (and have seen it up close) who become devoted and then drop their trainers like hot rocks, hurting the trainer's feelings and interrupting their horse's training. I've not been one of those people. I always kepy a good distance, clinic-ed with people here and there, remained friendly to everyone, taken some lessons, kept my horses at home away from the trainer-disciple problem at boarding stables.