I'm taking my first dressage lesson with my
endurance hopeful horse on Sunday. Thanks to whoever suggested Jane
Savoie's book, loved it! And I'm reading Angie's book right now, it's not
just entertaining, I think it has a lot of good info for
newbies. Made my hubbie read the Christmas gift chapter :), hoping
it'll work for next year.
Indy is a 4yr old (will be 5yrs in Oct)
morab and we might try a 15mile ride in the fall if his cross training
has gone well. I'm signed up to do some natural horsemanship and centered
riding clinics too this summer. I'm new to CTR and endurance too,
volunteered at a ride last spring and I cannot wait to get started. But I
learned there that I definitely want a well behaved, sane horse before we do a
ride. I think I'll do some more volunteering this summer too.
I'm jealous Cindy, that sounds too good to be true,
dressage and ranch work, awesome!
I can't say enough positive about cross training and I must
admit that I came very late to this epiphany. I rode endurance rides for
17 years on half broke, barely under-control horses. I loved them dearly
and rode many wonderful, successful miles this way. However, when I
moved back to Wyoming I became friends with an eventer and dressage
instructor. She convinced me that I might want to be able to rate my
endurance horses :) or have them move laterally off my leg or be able to
post on either diagonal or instantly pick up either lead. I thought
about Dave Nicholson making typically irreverent comments about how endurance
riders have no equestrian skills. As usual, he's often correct...even
when we hate to hear it. Anyhow, I very reluctantly let my new friend
talk me into taking dressage lessons with my green broke endurance
hopeful. I HATE arenas. So this was really hard for me.
Since then I take at least monthly lessons or clinics in either dressage or
cavaletti. I'm not very good, but I now know how much difference it has
made in my horses. It has also made it possible for me to continue some
riding during a time when I have been struggling with several physical
problems. I don't believe I could have done this without my dressage
lessons.
