Guess What We Did?!

After our super awesome breakthrough on Wednesday, I was curious to see how everything would go on Saturday on our own. Surely Wednesday's success couldn't be replicated without Ann's magical presence. Boy was I wrong- Kwik was great! We longed a little with side reins first, and then I hopped on. Since he was mostly warmed up from the longeing, we did a quick walk warmup, and then I put him straight to work at the trot. He was very obliging and happily responded to my request for connection. He was light in my hands and maintained a steady rhythm. We did some circles and serpentines, and we even practiced a little leg yielding coming down the centerline. We finished off with some fee walk across the diagnoal and called it a day. Winning!

We had another lesson with Ann on Sunday, and I'm totally regretting not bribing Adam to come out and video/take pictures. It was that good. Why you ask? We CANTERED! Ann watched me longe this time, giving me pointers along the way. When I got on, we really worked the trot. When he wanted to overbend or travel crooked, we practiced sending him forward and straight. Now that I'm able to keep my horse underneath me, I'm really able to adjust and correct, and as a result, he's become very light in my hands and the quality of his trot has improved. He feels wonderful, and I was having the time of my life trotting around out there. Then Ann walked me through the best places to ask him for the canter, and I asked. He took a few quick steps, but once I found my seat, we found our rhythm and went around in the most balanced canter we've ever had together. We had some difficulties picking up the left lead afterwards, but we finally managed to pick it up, and the quality of that canter felt amazing. Kwik was completely focused, all-business the entire ride, and I felt like I put in a pretty good effort as well. What a fun ride! I trimmed up his fetlocks and his whiskers and stuffed him full of carrots. I'm so proud of my handsome boy!

In other fun news, Kwik will have his first training ride on Friday! I had asked Ann a while back if she had any students that she thought would be a good fit for him and whether or not she thought weekly training rides would be beneficial for Kwik. She immediately suggested one of her long-time students, A. A has worked with several OTTBs and is a very capable rider. She's also small like me and rides like me, which is great for consistency-sake. We chatted for a bit last week, and I'm going to meet her on Friday afternoon. A is going to work with him on the flat, over fences, and out on the trails. I'm hoping we can start doing some conditioning work in the fields/XC course in the summer, and I think A can really help me get him there. Maybe if A can help me get him comfortable working in open fields, we'll be able to participate in the Mock Hunt in early December! Each year my farm and the local Pony Club puts on a mock hunt at the farm. An upper-lever Pony Clubber is chosen to be the fox and there are Tally Ho wagons for the non-riders- the whole thing just looks like a blast. Let project Mock Hunt begin!