Sunny September Sunday

Last night I was up till 3 a.m. revamping my blog page, checking my book sales and creating links to and from my ebook publishing page. That is when I discovered a review of my book The Horse Bumbler: Getting It Right By Mistake. This lady is truly annoyed with me! I'm a 'spoiled brat' and she 'feels sorry for my husband.'  She unfortunately didn't finish the book, otherwise she may have felt differently. But it was a great lesson for me: not everyone is going to like Bumbler and as an author I have to learn how to deal with adverse reactions. As a Christian I'm obliged to turn the other cheek, anyway.

So how fantastic that Cruz suddenly went super soft and round and supple for me today! I felt like a true dressage rider. When I create a forward going walk from the start, as my instructor says, Cruz develops  a wonderfully energetic stride and moves straight with the same evergy level when I ask for his first trot. His canter work to the left was as good as to the right, too.

Another bug bear of mine is the ubiquitous leg yield. I know the theory - keep him straight, supple and on the outside rein, develop a good forward going trot. But I've tended to panic over the lateral thing and sit crookedly in my attempts to push the horse over. My latest tactic has been to incorporate a leg yield when I feel he is ready (and I can sit in balance) and not perform more than two at a time. I.e. not make a 'thing' out of them. The result has been great. Cruz stayed balanced and moved forward and laterally with smoothness and ease.

I ended the sesson on a high. Cruz is also snorting during his work,which  indicates that he is feeling better about dressage, too.