Avandarre in Dressage

The weather outside was still bitter cold and snowy a few weeks ago, and had no end in site. I needed to have a solid counter canter on Ava before the middle of April and we were nowhere close to "getting" it. In jogs the Western Rider. WR: "What's your horse's deal?" Me: "She's frustrated". WR: "Why's she keep taking the wrong lead?" Me: ... "I, uhm, I want her to." WR: looks at me, then spurs horse to trot faster. Why is it that dressage is the only (horse) sport where the "wrong lead" can be the right one? And I'll tell you a secret, okay? I've always felt like counter canter was borderline OCD on the 'controlling your horse' spectrum. I mean, seriously, my horse will flip leads just to have that inside leg leading, and my response is to say, " Ha Ha, screw you pony! Do it the hard way!" I almost feel evil about it. I understand the long term benefits of it, so we...

Me and my big mouth! A fellow boarder was having life issues and finding it difficult to make time to ride her horse (aka: Ned). The first words out of my mouth? "I'll ride him for you!". <-- with stupid grin plastered on my face. Up until this point, I had heard stories of how Ned walks on his hind two legs all the way to the barn, how he bowled over his owner when she tried to fetch him from the pasture, and that he not only bucks hard when ridden, but tosses in a twist to throw riders off balance. Oh, and he may rear under saddle too. And yet, there I was... tacking up Ned to ride. In my head I'm hearing, over and over again, every nasty habit Ned has. And I'm wondering: how good am I? Can I stay on? Can I do this? Am I being retarded? All this Is going through my head while I'm trying to figure out how to get a saddle on a back I can't reach.  T he first ride went like this...   Me: "Ned, please halt".  Ned: ..... I wonder if I c...

Just some pictures from earlier this month.