Friday, August 29, 2014

Flying changes: From French Artist to German-American Olympian - and Judy has a plan (as always)

Jean-Louis will be leaving tomorrow night, we sure hate to see him go. The Mural is finished and absolutely stunning. Linda and Victor, the owners of the White Horse Inn, had invited us to a party last night in Jean-Louis’ honor. Great people, super conversations, lovely food and free flowing wine – what else can one hope for? Not having to go to work the next morning comes to mind!

Hopefully, Jean-Louis will be back for the Grand Opening of the restaurant. He has been giving Linda dressage lessons every day and she is extremely happy with the French teachings of lightness, and how much progress she and her horse have made, so she has more than one reason wanting Jean-Louis to come back.

Tomorrow I will be trading the French Artist for the German-American Olympian. Jan is coming this weekend to do a clinic at Judy’s, and I boldly have signed us up. It’s a bit of a gamble, because I am clearly not yet back to my pre-accident form. It was evident in my lesson yesterday. I am overriding, I get tired and then I get frustrated. Argh!

I honestly don’t know how I would manage without Judy - well, I guess I could figure something out, probably along the lines of just sticking to trailrides, that is. Judy has just the right approach on how to deal with me (ja, ja, not an easy feat, I admit) – a mixture of giving me time, encouragement, and just the right push when I’m on the horse. She also has been warming up Remy for me, and that made a huge difference. When I get on I can feel how he should feel. The challenge then is to keep it…

So, the plan for the last Waterloo show of the year is that Judy rides Remy Friday, we both are entered Saturday, and if the stars are aligned I go into the ring, if not, I’ll scratch. Sunday we just school. The sole goal is getting me comfortable riding at the ‘scene of the crime’ – well, actually, that’s not the sole goal: We also need to keep Remy from getting any ideas about “I’m outta here”.

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