I had almost forgotten what the middle of spring was supposed to be like. Even this morning it was cold and breezy, but as the day went by it got calmer and calmer and warmer and warmer.
I went out to ride at 5, and although Ace was predictably silly at the barrels he has done some good work. What surprised me most is that we have had an old car rally going down the road, with roaring engined Bugattis, Morgans and all sorts of old sports cars. He only spooked at one of them, and that made an almost back-firing noise just when he was less than 10 yards away from it, so I thought that was excusable.
I realised after a while that we had an audience and SH was stood watching him. He has not seen him work since last October. He made two comments . The first was how much bigger he looks, and powerful with it. The second was 'he's carrying himself'.
Of course this is the nirvana of dressage training and when I came back inside I asked SH if he was able to explain what that meant, or if it was just an overall gut feeling. He was quite specific, and he demonstrated, which was quite amusing :-)
He said that last year Ace moved with very straight front legs, something that we have commented on before. This year he has lifted his front end and is now bending his knees as he brings his front legs through. I know that if I was to read back through the blog I remember feeling when this change happened and hoping that the feel would be reflected in what people can see.
So I am a very happy person tonight. I got to ride. I got good weather for a ride. I got a great horse for a ride. What more could a girl want? A curry, so I'm off to eat one, bye !!
C
Fabulous, its moments like this that are the reason we put up with long cold, windy winters.
ReplyDeleteAnd it was a long one, wasn't it? The longest winter we've had since we have lived here - beginning of October to the end of April :-(((
DeleteLet's hope it's a one-off and the jet stream buggers off back where it's supposed to be!
C
At last! Guess our weather finally got there. *G*
ReplyDeleteSo nice to have a hubby with such good perception regarding what dressage is all about. I am sure he knows his stuff, which, in turn, makes his observations and critique so much more valuable. No wonder you are so happy.
Three cheers and three cheers more. You deserve the kudos.
He often says things not knowing how perceptive they are, and then to test whether he knows what I heard him say, I ask him what he actually saw to make him say it. He did a 'Spot the Dog' (Woodentops) impression round the kitchen to show me what he was like in October. It was hilarious :-)
DeleteThanks for sending over the weather :-)
C.