Evidence of Progress

what I feel like doing right now...

I have one of those horrible summer colds, so I decided that riding was not the best idea yesterday.

Instead, I lugged my sniffly self to the barn to lunge my pony in the chambon so at least one of us would get a workout. 

The last time I lunged I used side reins instead of the chambon, and Dino just sort of hovered above the bit the entire time, so I went back to my tried-and-true standard lunging equipment. 

I love that chambon. 

After he warmed up, Dino stretched beautifully into the bit. It was great to see his topline muscles stretching and working, and his whole body getting looser and swinging more as he worked. Dino chewed softly at the bit, had one ear on me, and was generally quite relaxed and focused. He was nicely responsive to voice commands as well, only getting a little carried away a couple times. 

And THEN. Then came the piece de resistance. 

Something possessed me to ask Dino for a walk-canter transition on the lunge, on the left lead. He has never in his life performed this maneuver. At least not on command, without bucking first. I think it was the congestion messing with my brain. The first few tries were unsuccessful, with my pony bouncing into a tentative trot instead. But I kept bringing him down to walk, bending him in on a smaller circle, and making sure he was engaged and walking with good impulsion before asking for the canter again. 

AND THEN. 

Dino did an absolutely perfect, uphill, glorious walk-canter transition on the lunge, on the left lead, maintained that glorious canter, and I pretty much exploded with happiness. 

It's great when we get to see little glimpses of how far we've come! At 16, this pony just keeps getting better and better. Love my little buddy! 

The end.