Sunday, March 23, 2008

Longe Training

I was sent pictures and video from Brego's longe training session with my amazing dressage trainer. He was being a bit of a punk during most of it, so my trainer had trouble getting his best performance for the camera. Isn't that how it always is?



But the pictures and video still show quite an improvement. His balance continues to improve, especially in the canter, where he has a tendency (surprise, surprise) of falling to his forehand and plowing around. His trot shows energy and dare I say, impulsion. And he is performing on a circle that is quite small for him. Six months ago, he would not have been able to maintain a canter without completely dropping his inside shoulder. Now, I wouldn't say it looked effortless, but he looks a lot lighter.


Also, his body clip is growing out into the most unusual pattern. All of his new hairs are jet black and have not been bleached by the Texas sun yet. So over his old brown coat, his black hairs are very distinctive and they are growing in as a dapple pattern. He looks so bizarre.



But as always, he looks perfect to my eyes and I miss him very much. Less than three weeks now until I see him. I must constantly remind myself that regardless of his "potential", he's a happy, lovely boy just being my horse and playing around. He does not care to be the "best" at anything, unless it's eating mango slices, of course. So I should not get caught up in the thought of what he may do in the competition arena with his newfound skills. If any horse can teach the lesson, Brego shows us that dressage is for the horse. The horse is not for dressage.