We’re on a roll lately. Misty has been absolutely wonderful to ride and
handle. Though she can still be a fruitcake on the lunge line (as Kyle
witnessed when she came to shoot some video recently), she is really
learning connection and trust with me — when she gets “amped up,” she
comes back and settles quickly. We are regularly cantering under saddle
now as we practice our tests, even in unstable footing, and she feels
much more balanced. We’ve begun jumping on lunge line and under saddle
and she loves it. We begin each ride with a hack around the neighborhood
which she really seems to enjoy — since there is a always a lot going on
around our block, I find it helpful to just take her out into it to see
everything, rather than expect her to concentrate in the somewhat
closed-off arena right away. Her tough moments are now reduced to just
a bit of balkiness and not wanting to go forward at the beginning of a
dressage session (kind of like ‘do I have to?’) without much threatening
behavior and which we get over very quickly. Sometimes on her first
canter under saddle she’ll pin her ears and need some extra strong
leg/encouragement but when she gets going she feels good. I am so happy
with her progress lately, and excited to see how she does down at Donida
next week! We are entered for Intro 3 and Training 1. It’s been awhile
since I’ve been to a horse show and it will only be her second time at
one, so wish us both luck!
