Canoodler and I are getting into gear. Winter is a slow time of year for our business so this is the best time of year for me to work on my riding.
Emily Brollier, a dressage trainer, comes to the farm 3 days a week and rides a variety of horses there. She is the bomb! You can learn about Emily out at her website: www.miramonteequine.com Canoodler and I have weaseled our way into her schedule and we're loving it! Emily understands us. At one time she used to work at the track as an exercise rider so she has a lot of experience with thoroughbred race horses. Bonus for us!
This was us after our first lesson with Emily...
Canoodler is pretty green but he's smart. We are working on him getting on the bit, carrying himself in a good round frame, and building up his muscles so he can do it longer and better!
I have so many little goals I want to meet this year. One of which is to get to a show. Both Canoodler and myself are greenies in this department. The immediate plan is to hit the Snowbird Show at the Kentucky Horse Park at the end of February. We'll go in the Intro classes because we both need the introduction to dressage showing. I'll reevaluate after that show and see what we need to do from that point.
In the meantime, I had another great ride on Canoodler with help from Emily today. I video taped from my iphone how Canoodler is coming along with Emily in the saddle. He just started to do work at the canter with her.
Can you tell? I'm very excited about this horse!
Ohh I'm looking forward to reading this! I've been training with my dressage riding instructor for around 3 years and I have learnt so much I just absolutely love it! we're starting competing this year and are starting competing at intro level, but we are doing a bit of prelim to :D I'm looking forward to following your journey :D
ReplyDeleteThanks AmberRose! Best of luck to you too! It's all about becoming great partners with our horses. It's a fun journey!
ReplyDeleteWhat a cutie. I crack up every time I read his name though! Love it :)
ReplyDeleteHe's improved so much already. My suggestions would be to not worry about his head carriage so much, that will come as he becomes fitter and stronger. Work on getting him going forward, and your hands being more giving, which will give him something to work into, rather than being held back so that he's just pottering about. I loved the footage of him stretching down at the end of the last workout. That was my OTTB's reward at the end of the session. It got to the point that I could be cantering, give him the reins, and his nose would drop down on the floor and all of a sudden it felt like I was sitting on top of a flexed bow. I don't know how better to explain it, but it was an awesome feeling once I got used to it.
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