What a difference a little break in the temps makes! It was
in the mid 20s on Saturday, and Saumur felt better than he had in a long time.
With the good ride in mind I put Remy in the grooming stall to get him ready. JP
was standing right in front of him – which proved not to be a good idea. Remy
was relaxed in the cross ties when a loud sound in the aisle behind him
startled him, made him take a huge leap forward – directly on JPs foot, then
knocking him on the cement floor. Talk about scary! Luckily no major damage,
but I almost needed a brown bag to start breathing again. Thank God for a tough Frenchman. Poor Remy had a
bewildered look “what the heck just happened?” Well, that’s what we’d like to
know, too.
Note to Remy: It’s so not a good idea to take out the guy who brings
you the biggest and juiciest carrots in the depth of winter! Saumur, Chambord and Teddy would be really p..d, never mind me.
I wasn’t too thrilled to get on, well knowing that if Remy
would do this under saddle I’d be “flying Birgit”. Granted, I always wanted to
try parachuting, but not without parachute! Keeping in mind the recent Tom
Dorrance quote I read “if the person is bothered on the inside, it sure shows
on the outside of the horse”, I tried to pretend not to be bothered.
Some time ago I had learned affirmative phrases, but I
decided this called for something much stronger. The words just came to me, and
I kept repeating them over and over. We had a beautiful ride. Our canter
departs are getting better, even the ‘skippy’ one to the right. Judy had a good
visual for me that helps with my tendency to over-control: Imagine being in
front of a fence – you have to keep contact with the horse but he has to have
enough oomph to get over the fence. Pulling back makes you crash. Once that
image was ingrained in my mind we were clicking, but I still kept repeating my ‘magic
mantra’ aloud to Remy.
So, what did I come up with?? Easy enough: “We can f…ing do
this!” J
Note to self: Keep it down in front of the judges.
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