Monday, January 31, 2011

London 2012, Here We Come

This is literally what Izzy and I looked like yesterday:

















Except for the shad, of course. That's just a little too formal for us to school in.

How, might you ask, did we make the leap from local training level rider to international dressage stars?

Good question. The answer is twofold.
1) We were able to use the outdoor arena for the first time since November.
2) The footing was freshly worked and pretty deep.

Yep. I had already turned Izzy out in the indoor where she went gallopy-gallop-buck-buck for about 5 or 10 minutes, so I thought she'd be super quiet. WRONG! I put her on the lunge line and the mare PASSAGED around me, first one way, then the other. She did seem responsive, despite being totally wired, so I got on.

The first five minutes of our ride were AMAZING. She had this incredible forward energy and suspension. Then she started settling down and realized that yes, this is the same outdoor we rode in last fall, and dang, it is hard work to keep up that crazy gait.

Back to training level. It took a while to get her balanced to the point I've had her in the indoor. She wasn't very focused and after she gave up on that crazy energy surge, I had to work a lot harder. Still, she was decent. We got some lovely canter work with some actual shorten/lengthen in the canter. Yay!

Oh, and the turnouts were finally open, too. Happy mare got to go out and eat the hay I threw her.

ETA: Thanks to Denali's mom for making us a new header. It's more winter appropriate, I think.

7 comments:

  1. well then, I'll have to book my tickets asap and cheer you on from the 'friends' booth in the friend, sipping my champagne! :)

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  2. It's true! I was all, wow look at Izzy go! LOL it's so fun to have moments like that, however brief:)

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  3. Rather amazing transformation, but it just proves what a good rider/trainer you are. *lol*

    What a grand feeling when your horse offers you that kind of work on her own. It's a ride to treasure. Well done.

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  4. Like the new header =)

    My horse randomly passaged on the lunge the other day, too... he wasn't spooked, and there was no one to show off to, just random. Not as elevated as Izzie, I'm sure, but still kind of fun!

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  5. Wow! sounds like an awesome ride :) And now Izzy has no excuse not to perform because you know she can do it :P

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