Love that Canter!!

For something different yesterday (arena work bores us all to tears at some point, right?!) I took Red out in the front 50 acres of the property I keep him on to school... One side of the creek is pretty uneven, so we made our way to the other side and after walking about to make inspections of possible ditches/holes/other hazzards we got into it ...

Specifically, I wanted to get some nice canter work happening on long, straight stretches - rather than asking him in the arena which has soft sand and he sometimes finds it a bit difficult... But yesterday, we rolled along the front 50 with no troubles and he was really enjoying himself ... He was anticipating the canter at some points, so I threw in a few trot circles to counter that ...

His canter (when not disunited and we have to come back to trot and ask again!) is very smooth! Once he gets into a nice rhythm, it's one you could just sit to all day ... At one point, we were rolling along in a very nice rhythm and I had folded down slightly into a 3-point position. It was like we were 1 horse moving - he was smooth as silk, and I barely moved in the saddle. To date, that has to be the best feeling/moment we've shared together ...

When walking back to the gate after we'd finished in the front 50, he was feeling pretty frisky and wanted to trot... I made him walk almost all the way back, until we came to the base of a small hill, then we moved into trot, and I gently encouraged him into canter. He didn't actually need encouragement, he wanted to canter! But it wasn't rushed; it was collected, steady, and enjoyable for both of us. We cantered to the top of the hill and he stood perfectly for me to both open and close the gate. So proud!

We came back to the arena as I wanted to do a quick session in there ... annnnnd, we did our first full 30m circles in the arena, at canter, to either direction. He dropped back into pace once (and it's the first time he's ever actually paced with me), but that can be forgiven! We're still finding our canter feet.. But I'm still soooooo proud!

We have a our first dressage lesson together today!! That will be both exciting and nerve racking - but will definitely help us improve and will be well worth it.