"You've got to crack a few eggs to make an omelette."
I had a fantastic break through ride on Furio yesterday. Not that things have not been going well, he is rocking and rolling and each day I feel like we figure something out together. Yesterday though, I got on with a mission in my mind to improve the quality of our trot work. It's all there, but I just knew I wasn't scratching the surface of what Furio really had to give me. I've been giving him time to get stronger, and letting myself of the hook in the process. Why rock the boat when it's slowly chugging along right?
Well, I am certainly glad I did. Furio always gives a feeling in the trot work like he is just. not. quite. completely... in front of the leg. When you push he can get a little frantic. I've just let that be the line. Pushing for what he would give me, and backing off when he got flustered. Instead, yesterday I quietly but persistently kept after it. There were moments that were not beautiful. I just stayed calm and kept asking. I worked through a variety of exercises to help him, and me. Finally I went to work on the medium and extended trots. These have been our biggest 'sticky' spot. When he was so unfit, I understood when he would struggle, and was careful. However, I discovered yesterday that I had just allowed my carefulness keep me from really riding my ASS off and getting it done. Furio's trot is huge and he is very short coupled which makes his trot one that is difficult to sit. So when he drops behind the leg and hollows his back in a medium it's damn near impossible. I've been afraid to screw up in those moments when it is really hard for me!
The result of dropping the fear of my own mistakes and the fear that he wasn't ready was some PHENOMENAL work. Work that far exceeded my expectations for him and myself. No surprise at all that actually getting the horse in front of my leg made an enormous improvement... that's a dressage fact of life. It was just a really great feeling to nervously break a few eggs and end up with one awesomely amazing omelette.
