Dance Magic

Pilar poses for the camera. My kind of picture, you can't see me on it. (c) 2015 Alvin Gellert.
Pilar poses for the camera. My kind of picture, you can’t see me on it. (c) 2015 Alvin Gellert.

Tonight’s ride on Pilar was magical. After we had a bit of a discussion Tuesday about the new-fangled and bizarre concept of not just turning right whenever she was asked to walk straight ahead or to the left, she amazed me tonight with dancing along energetically and being hyper-observant on my aids.

There ain’t no feeling that compares to sitting on a horse that dances along and responds to the tiniest nudge, sometimes just the thought of a nudge.

She’s beginning to show muscle and she has a lot more energy than a month ago. She certainly has her own ideas about what we should be doing and when, but she is open for discussion. The next step now will be working up a good, rythmic working trot — but trotting with a rider is hard work and she does not yet quite have the muscle and stamina to do so for more than a minute or two in a stretch. We’ll get there, though. I can feel her improvement every day.