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| So fancy in his inherited PSOS bridle |
Being given the opportunity to ride such a well trained horse as Evita certainly has been a blessing. But, it makes riding and wanting to ride the green horses a lot less motivating. I can get on Evita and pretty much put her exactly how I want her and do whatever suits my fancy. And I started to run into trouble with my greenie.
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| Greenie's first side rein |
Merlot has an incredible work ethic and despite his spookiness, is a pretty chill dude under saddle but after prioritizing my rides on Evita I found I would get frustrated and pushy with Merlot. And it isn't fair. He toodles like a pro, but if I try and put on trainer pants, I started to expect he had an education when he didn't. Even though Ries was not a dressage pro, he had a foundation put on him and once trainer taught me to unlock and develop it, we were golden. But greenie he was not.
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| Mer and V Have a huge bromance. Also photo bomb by Mae and E (E is in fly mask) |
So here I am sitting with a lovely pony who will work sun up to sun down and give you snuggles when the day is done. But I really don't know how to get that first step of the dressage foundation put on him. So we toodled and moved at a snails pace. I tried to do "hey look, if I weight this seat bone and put on this leg you move over" and "I know contact feels weird but I'm just going to have soft forgiving hands" and yet I felt my tool bag kind of empty.
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| So many smiles <3 |
I had my first dressage lesson on Merlot two weeks ago and that helped so much. It was enough of a push but also a "we are only focusing on one thing this entire lesson" that I finally feel I have a start in the dressage direction. I knew I looked like a sack of potatoes riding a llama but I couldn't help but smile. I didn't just buy a green horse because I think he will be fancy and he has a forgiving attitude (and I have a limited budget), but for how much I wanted to experience the process of bringing a green horse up and how much joy it gives me.
