Sunday, September 13, 2009

Feel the Ride


I have been dreaming of late~ And in my minds eye and my muscle memory, I feel a ride on my mare. It is a ride we will have in the future.


It is exciting and anticipated, comprised of all the times I have gotten the Connection to/with, my sweet mare.

The engagement as I think forward and up. She meets me in the air with a rising foreleg of trot.
We do a few 2o meter circles, every fourth stride in shoulder fore.
She accepts the invitation, as I leg yield to the wall, canter. Breathing out, moments later, and she does a downward transition. I then lightly massage the reins and she snorts out in acceptance and in roundness, reaches for more contact.

We Volte' at the small end of the arena from my core and focus, the mare and I talking silently. I pulsate with her step, my calf to her left barrel and step into my right stirrup..she moves over in yeild for 3 strides and as I pulsate with her gate my right calf and step into my left stirrup she then changes her crossover too.The praise is felt by my bay partner, her expression is lively and engaged. We are both looking ahead, my eyes are in soft focus as my fingers touch her wither. My breath is released, she slows....and then I sit up springy like, and she engages again, walking out. We gather and release her gait like this for a time then I shoulderfore around the short side into halt. She has trouble being straight at halt so we do curved ones and she likes straight again later.

We then serpentine the entire arena, down one side then the next. Her Bend and Tempo remains with my body. She accepts my weight into the inside stirrup and then evenly upon the both for a stride before I switch to the next inside stirrup. I tingle the outside rien a tad too before the change of direction as a ck for speed.We are both relaxed, she has a slight white lipstick enhancing her lips. We turn on the quarter line, leg yield to the wall, then pick up a canter again. As we come to the short side, we begin to spiral in on a 20 meter to 10m circle, prepping for a Canter Pirouette.

We are learning this and she is trying very hard. We then come down to a nice walk..this time she stays longer, instead of bunching up in anticipations. She sometimes does when she feels me stop moving slightly.Old habbits of the cowboy days of sliding stop.

A few minutes more and while we straighten out from a nice daisy chain on the long wall, she snorts and reaches farther . I release her, now in self carriage, as she trots lightly forward. She knows how pleased I am for her effort and attention. I count aloud 1...2...3...4 breathily so..she matches my ques to stay lofty and not rush . It is a very good day.

Walking together now, she is a happy mare and is with me still as I allow her to walk with the reins resting on her wither as I float my arms in the air like a plane. I turn my body to the left..she follows..to the right...likewise. Breathing out and closing my thighs slightly she halts. I dismount and release her girth. She follows me in a pattern as we walk and I stretch out a bit, her head near the ground as she does . I place my hand near her poll and we walk some more.


She has a happy relaxed look to her ears and eyes~ I am soo happy too!!!

11 comments:

  1. Very lovely - I can see and feel it!

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  2. Well said. I would love to feel that way too.

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  3. wow we MUST be sisters... :) had the same feeling today with my quarter horse mare Alle and yesterday with arabian runner :) gazi... isnt that awesome.. those moments of magic..


    you gotta saddle up and come on inn !!!
    hugs and a nicker from the herd

    gp

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  4. KC...very well written...so descriptive I can see it.

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  5. Had a great ride today in our outside arena with my man back from the trainer.....can't wait for tomorrow morning! Riding everyday from now on! Yeah!

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  6. Wow. How awesome the way to put that into words. Even though I've not yet been quite there with Caspian, I can totally envision it with your descriptions...so beautifully written. Awesome.

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  7. The more often we ride in our mind and "feel" the perfect ride, the closer we come to it. Stride by stride, step by step, you will reach that goal!

    I could almost feel that ride as you described, each willing and forward stride moving fluidly, effortlessly to the next.

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  8. Looking forward alwaysSeptember 14, 2009 at 8:28 AM

    Thanks my friends for riding along with me!!!
    It is too cool...every time I am out with the mare-I reach some goals and the puzzle pieces grow and take shape to be able to fit together perfectly.

    Soon, inside an arena, this will be attainable as a stable a quarter mile away,(walking distance) is now being prepped for boarders and arena riders = the mare and I!!!

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  9. A very good description of why dressage is so captivating...

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