Saumur is back at school. I felt really guilty taking him away from his buddies. The three of them are getting along so well, it is really astonishing. But Saumur needs to get back into the swing of things, in two weeks we have the freestyle clinic with Karen Robinson, and it wouldn't be fair to take an unfit horse.
Our lesson focused on me truly 'sinking' into the saddle. This is rather difficult for me, I come from the school where slouching is considered a cardinal sin. So, in order to be straight (or what I perceive as being straight) I get stiff. Once I really let me weight sink into the saddle I can feel the difference in Saumur. We had some wonderful trot half-pass work, and then Sandy had us do a new exercise on the diagonal: half-pass - straight - leg-yield - straight - half-pass. That was really nifty. Saumur worked very well. I noticed, however, that he needs a haircut, as he got quite sweaty. In preparation of the Michigan Winter, Saumur already sports the beginning of his thick winter coat. So, next weekend we'll have to call on our expensive French hairstylist - JP!
Remy and Chambord didn't seem to mind being without Saumur. We took them on a road trip today, I wanted to see how Remy is loading and riding in our trailer. Of course, I saw that he was fine when we went with Valerie to the vet clinic for his pre-purchase exam; and also Bob told us what a great traveler Remy is. Still... our trailer has a ramp, whereas Remy is used to step ups. And here was the 'aha'-moment: Remy loaded fine, but was a bit confused about backing out on the ramp. Smart boy that he is he figured it out quickly. We also did groundwork and I rode him.
All three of them sure earned their deer carrots today - wonder where my carrot cake is??
No comments:
Post a Comment