Progress

Today is a reflective post... I was just thinking how far Reily and I have come since I bought Reily almost four years ago. I can barely remember what it was like with the unbalanced, refusing to canter to the left, buck me off when I was getting on, little turd. And boy I am NEVER going back! He is SO much more collected and muscled now! I have a picture of the first day I saw him, I loved him but... he was a little chunky. By little I mean probably the horse version of morbidly obese (I'm only slightly kidding). After a year of getting the pounds down, We started building muscle, and then finally this year we got a topline! I'm still working on it, but he is a MUCH more balanced and muscled horse.


Unfortunately, he is a VERY easy keeper, and with the little grain I have him on he is getting the chunkys yet again. But hey, don't we want a little 'protective padding' going into the winter months anyway? I suppose I should be thankful he's an easy keeper, and not the other way around, but BOY he can get fat on air!


I am thankful for how much I have grown with what he's shown me. Things I used to know textbook style, I now know what it feels like, how to properly achieve a good ride. How to be an effective rider and get the horse to move his best, and when necessary getting out of the horses way and letting him show his stuff! Flying lead changes had a HUGE impact on me, and Reily. I now understand every little piece of HOW a horse performs a lead change, and the best way (from experience with Reily) to TEACH them to do a flying. I used to get so frustrated when Reily would do perfect SIMPLE lead changes, with one trot step, when I was asking for a flying. Just this last week, Reily and I did a set of flying lead changes going straight down the middle of the arena. The feeling of him collecting and rounding, and becoming so light is an AMAZING feeling. By no stretch of the imagination does he have it perfected though- every now and again he'll give an excited buck as he changes.


But BOY the things this last year have brought... I can't wait for next year!


P.S. I sure posted a lot sooner than I thought I would :] not having work and little homework makes a person bored during the day.