He's Home!

 After the longest three months in existence, my big baby came back home last week <3

When we left off with Thunder's dressage adventures, I'd just had my first lesson on him at J's, and it was a bit of a train wreck. I went back the following week armed with equal parts intense trepidation and ferocious resolve, neither of which are a particularly pleasant emotion to have on your back if you are a horse. He once again met me at the gate with happy whinnying, then behaved perfectly to be saddled up, but as soon as I got on him we were both as tight as violin strings. Our mood did not improve when J sent us to the lunge ring.

He went in there looking for something to spook at, not helped by the fact that I was looking for something for him to spook at too. The upper-level Andalusian in the paddock next door decided this was an excellent moment to start galloping around madly while bucking and farting. I was very close to bailing out on the whole thing, but J put us to work and the moment I started making my expectations clear, Thunder relaxed and settled into the work.

We ended up having a really solid lesson. He spooked once or twice, but mildly, and we continued to work on canter quality, with little bits of piaffe (assisted from the ground by J) to engage his butt and my brain. The straightness continued to be an issue. I had a light bulb moment when J corrected a twist in my body to the left, and that helped tremendously, leading us into some good moments before the end of our lesson. We finished with another walk around outside the arena and this time I was stern about sending him forward and he was much more relaxed, so that was confidence building overall.

J sent me a message afterward to encourage me and remind me that we're going to the next level right now, so of course things are going to feel hard. He is not generous with praise and this meant a lot. A major morale booster at a crucial moment.

legitimately the only photo I took

We returned that Saturday, a week before he was due to come home, for another lesson. This time, the moment I sat on him, he was different. He didn't feel gigantic under me, he just felt like my Thunder, and we both walked into the arena and exhaled. I slipped the reins to the buckle and he stretched to the floor.

With my lizard brain lulled to sleep, I could apply myself to what we were doing. Although I still hit the wrong buttons at times, it finally felt like Thunder and I were on the same page, and we had some really, really good moments - the best we've ever had. We even played with what was supposed to be four-tempis but thanks to my counting skills were three, five, six, or seven-tempis, but he did change instantly and cleanly every time I asked. His single changes were incredible - smooth and effortless - and canter right began to match canter left much better. We even did a few half steps on our own without help from the ground.

After the lesson, we spent the weekend with relatives including their toddler and baby. I am addicted to the baby, who had a cold, and thus by that Monday I was man down with a cold that then turned into the most brutal bacterial sinus thing I've ever had. Truth be told, I'm still sick in bed nearly three weeks later. It's been ridiculous.

Hence we didn't get to do any lessons the last week he was at J's, which was a bummer, but I was still really excited when hubby and I headed off to fetch him on Monday the 4th.

He hopped right in the box without a qualm and happily travelled all the way home wearing the cute new custom travel kit with the yard's colours and logo.

Before he arrived, I'd moved Wynnie out into the big field with Arwen and the herd. She was becoming an insufferable brat by bullying Lancey all the time, and dear, stupid Lancey just stands there and lets her chew on him. He was all covered in bite marks. It was time for her to go and learn a few lessons from the no-nonsense older mares.

She integrated spectacularly well and definitely remembers not to aggravate her mother. Besides, a couple of months on the dry veld during the day will do her weight good - she is a true baby dragon and not quite as lean as a rising two-year-old should be.

When Thunder got home, he let out a big breath. I let him go in his old field and he pinned his ears at Lancey, trotted to his roll spot, and had the longest, most satisfying roll.

Still pretty sick but determined not to let him lose any of the ground he gained at John's, I got on him the very next day, and I instantly had my chill, happy Thunder back. Much more forward than he was before I sent him for training - but stretching to the ground and happy to be home. I played with his stretchy trot, which was so much better than it used to be, and we did a little bit of canter work wherein I worked really hard to make him straight. He wanted to go with his quarters to the right and tried to ignore my leg once, but I got after him about it and he sorted himself out.

I actually worked him every day last week, which was really cool, even if I had to keep the rides short so that my lungs didn't explode. I worked really hard to hold him and myself accountable to our aids. Taking a break from riding him really helped with this---I seem to have broken the habit of letting Thunder get away with stuff that I would absolutely not allow from any of the others. (In my defence, he is my firstborn child).

We worked on the changes on Wednesday, and I could feel the difference between the fairly-okay change when I didn't have him perfectly straight and the totally-perfect change when I did. I had optimistically hoped to enter a show for this weekend and we played with the Medium 6 movements, which came effortlessly. Even the counter canter through the corner followed by a flying change at A was super easy as long as I kept him straight and active, which became increasingly easier as Thunder realized that mom is no longer playing around.

feeling a little intimidated about maintaining this bod

By Thursday I was feeling pretty nasty again, so I just did a stretchy session with him. J really drove it home to me that I needed to stretch this horse well and often if I want to maintain his muscle tone and keep his body feeling good, so we did the whole ride as long and low as I could get him. Walk and trot was great - his nose well below his knees - but I'm still having a little trouble keeping him balanced and stretching properly in canter. He did give me a stretch, maybe to his shoulder, but not all the way to the ground.

missed this face so much 💜

By Friday I was on my last legs, so we did groundwork instead, but it was still a really great session. I took a bunch of treats, his bridle and a dressage whip and tried to recreate the piaffe work in hand that I'd seen J do. There was a bit of fumbling around and he got thoroughly frustrated with me a few times, which I allowed him to express as long as he was trying and not running over me, because, like, fair, I am very frustrating lol. Toward the end, we started to figure each other out. He was extremely responsive to the whip and I never had to get after him about being active, but he actually wanted to canter on the spot or do a little levade instead of piaffe. I think I found the right spot on him to touch with the whip eventually, because then it fell into place and he gave me several sets of very active, on-the-spot steps.

Although we were both a bit annoyed about struggling to work it out, it felt like we worked as a team to figure it out. The copious amount of treats I fed him for every good attempt definitely helped.

I somewhat ambitiously entered us for a show that was actually supposed to happen today, but because a series of bad decisions led to me spending another week in bed with a respiratory bug, that sadly didn't happen. I could be cantering down centreline right now if I had used my brain a little more... but I'm not sure I regret it. More on that later!

It's amazing to look through my window and see my Thunder in the paddock again. God is good!