Flying Without Wings and a Decision

Yesterday, the twelfth, I took Sora on a really long trail ride with her babysitter. She was fantastic. Truly this horse is like a dream come true!

The only really place we have to ride is into a small town and the only way to get there is along a road. Because Sora is still a little nervous around cars and because steering can still be interesting this can be dangerous. We went slow and I climbed off for the first few cars but after that she was wonderful! It was funny because after I stopped her and had her look at the first few cars she decided that meant that we should stop at every car. She would hear a car coming and stop without looking at it or paying any attention :~)

The best part of the entire wonderful trip was when, on the way back, we were trotting alongside Khepri and the horses were racing a little. We cantered! It was wonderful. She was balanced and it was rocking and beautiful. It will be great for Dressage when we get there and even though Khepri was cantering right alongside her when I gave her the lightest pull to slow her down (she was only wearing a halter) she slowed to a trot and than to a walk and even stopped when I leaned down and hugged her :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

The decision I made is to slow down with her training a little. I'm not going to quite riding her it's just that I'll be happy if I ride her once or so a week instead of being disappointed if I don't ride her a few days in a row. I realized that I have been pushing her more than I ever planned on and although she hasn't had any problems I just don't want to risk it. I have also read this article and I tend to agree that waiting until four is better for more horses. Because of this I'll ride her a bit more this fall and than just work on things like desensitization and trick training this winter and into next spring.

I may be moving her next summer to a boarding stable where I'll have a couple arenas with good footing and flat ground to work with and hopefully a Dressage trainer. I plan on continuing my training on her myself and if I have my way I'll be the only person ever on her back but having someone to give me lessons would be helpful so I won't be fumbling around in the dark.