Wizard Ride 165: (Dawning of a) New Era

Thursday, 8/3/10

One of my favorite barn buddies visited and watched me ride Wizard. She had not seen him for several months so I was excited to show off our progress. Last time she saw him, we were just doing a little trot and were nowhere near canter work. I rode in the indoor arena since the bugs were pretty bad and the sun was STRONG. I put Wizard through his paces, and he gamely complied. We did a little demo of our lateral work, our long and low trot, our cantering, and I popped him over a cross rail at a trot and then a canter. He hit the rail once with his back foot, but it was my fault because I had a trot-in pole and it was too close for him when he cantered in. The last time through, he took the jump perfectly.

My friend was so happy with our progress. She could see HUGE changes in his fitness and topline, and she said he was so much more relaxed and his gaits were much improved. We have moved out of one training phase and into another. It was so rewarding to hear her kind words.