One Dancing Dragon

 The last time I schooled and competed Arwen regularly, before she had her year as a kid pony and then a couple of years to raise Wynnie, we were absolutely labouring around elementary. It didn't help that I had two (count 'em) dressage lessons on her, ever, and that I'd taught myself all the movements based on stuff I read on the Internet. When you think about it that way, it's pretty amazing that she could do them at all.

think if I'd lengthened my stirrups like 4 holes I could have sat the trot?

The break to have Wynnie has changed so much. Firstly, I think it was a great reset for her body. Secondly, when she came back to work, I was a completely different rider. Not heaven's gift to dressage by any means but I've had nearly six years of solid instruction now, so obstacles that seemed absolutely immovable three or four years ago are now simple problems with real solutions.

Arwen has been in work again for nearly a year now. For the last two months, with Thunder at school, I've ridden her every weekday instead of having her lunged now and then between rides when I couldn't get to her. It's really starting to pay off.

Her body feels the best it ever has. The saggy baby belly has finally retreated, with a notable improvement after her last chiro visit. She was always super stiff in her body (a product of a rider who did not know what bend was... like legit I was riding the equivalent of 2nd level and I did not know) but now the suppleness is really getting there. It's not at the same level as Thunder or Lancey yet, but it's getting there.

Her engine just blows me away. Most of it is mental, because she can be really hot when I'm revving her up, but the strength has caught up with her brain now and there are moments that feel like she can do anything. We've tinkered with pirouette canter and it's hollow but she has a capacity to sit that I've never really felt before. There's so much energy and power. Sometimes considerably too much energy and power, lol, but I like it.

She intimidated me a little when I was just bringing her back into work; I'd grown very used to my two gorgeous geldings who never put a foot wrong. But even at her worst, the rock-steady foundation of our fifteen years together never gave in. I got used to the antics and she got used to the idea that her servant is no longer 17 and bulletproof. We settled into one another again, and now our old friendship has come back to the surface, except that she's a few years older and sassier, and I'm a little heavier, a little kinder, a little more patient, and a lot more knowledgeable.

dragonbelly all gone!

Bold though she is, Arwen is responding to the change in me. Arwen's never been cuddly, but she's showing a sweeter side that I haven't seen much of before. She's still the dragon, don't get me wrong, and she will 100% string together a bunch of bucks if she feels I've earned them. Still, there have been little changes. 

I usually bring her in from the field early in the morning when I've finished checking the pasture herd, just to save some time when I want to ride her a bit later. I never give her treats at this time - she's easy to catch and the herd are downright maniacal if they catch a whiff of banana Snickers. This morning, I planned to give her a day off, and I was in a hurry so I just checked the client horses close up and glanced toward my own to make sure that they still had four legs and were grazing, so I didn't even go up to Arwen. I was probably 50-100 metres from her checking up on a client horse when she just picked up her head and came right over. She's never done that except for treats. I gave her some scratches and lovies, then turned to leave, and she followed me all the way up to the gate (I was at the bottom of the field) away from the herd. When I opened the gate, she followed me through and stood over the box her halter lives in. "Well, peasant, are we doing this or not?" I put her halter on and took her up to lunge for ten minutes, respecting her wishes. One does not simply ignore the dragon's commands.

The result has been magic from my point of view. We're not setting the world on fire by any means, but my world sure is blazing when I look between her long dragon ears. We've even been on some hacks - alone and in company - which I haven't done confidently on anyone other than Lancey (and the ploddiest of my school ponies) in years and years and years.

In terms of dressage, we went from struggling with Elementary work this time last year (or even in January of this year) to test riding Medium this week. Is it world-shaking? No. Does she feel capable? Absolutely. It's easier getting her through a Medium test than Thunder (although part of that is just the fact that her trot is really easy to sit on lol). She's still a bit stiff and she pulls like a train but she learns the movements so, so quickly.

Ultimately, this horse has already given me her whole heart in everything we've ever done. Getting this time to dance with her, almost 15 years into our partnership, with her still sound and still wanting to work, is an unspeakable gift. A ribbon wrapped around the amazing, undeserved treasure of dancing horses.

Thank you my dragon <3

God is so good.