2nd lesson with KT - Get the balance right*

"This arena is Scheisse!"

KT said as she rode Mara around. I laughed, "OH GOOD you agree with me!" She said, "It's nearly impossible for this young horse to get the balance right, with all these uneven areas and the fact that the entire arena is on a hillside, sloping." I said, "Yes, and hard as concrete. Do you know of a better one in the area?" Sadly she doesn't. I was so jealous when I visited Bintu to watch a lesson and watched his hooves sink slightly in the luxurious sand. Mara's hooves just pound on the rock hard arena, and the thought of falling...

It was another funny mix of German and English. It was so bloody hot out I almost couldn't do it, and Mara had no gas in her tank. I thumped her with my heels hard at one point and KT said, "Hey now, gently!"

She told me to use my seat more than my legs. I pep-talked Mara,

"The cows are getting out! The cows!"

 and "Someone give me another quarter to put in!"

KT laughed and told me about a German diving team called PADI, humoursly called the Put Another Dollar In team. I didn't try to explain to KT about the quarter thing.

KT rode the first half hour, I rode the second. She even got a canter from Mara, the first I've seen since buying her. Cantering on the trails is one thing, but Mara took to bucking with me in the arena so I thought I'd wait til I saw a profi do it before I asked again. She was so tired but she did actually canter, the entire long side, which honestly is about 4 strides (hate that arena). Then KT praised her and jumped off of her. Goooooood girl. She asked me what the word for praise is and when I told her she said, "I just know that from church, 'Praise the Lord'." I said, "Well honestly that's what we say about our dogs and kids and horses too."

KT does not like my french link snaffle. In fact she told me to put it in my fingers and then she took both rings and cranked them together, crushing my fingers painfully. I said, "That's different, my hand does not have a jawbone. I cannot crush her mouth with this bit." She said the most comfortable thing for a horse is an unjointed bit. I told her I'd be willing to try it and see how Mara reacts. I'm willing to try anything as long as it's not a gadget.

She doesn't want me lunging before my lessons because she sees Mara running out of gas. I said I just warm her up for 15 minutes, because I see her body physically become looser when she's warmed up. KT says she'll teach me some ground exercises that accomplish the same thing. Yay, I wanna do fancy stuff from the ground!

I told her about the Oliver Hilberger book I read about in-hand work, it was so amazing to me to read one thing he wrote - that when a horse learns certain movements, the horse's brain changes, for example if a horse learns to lift its front end, it has the effect of giving the horse self confidence. KT said it's the same thing with people, with children especially.

She said that the higher level a horse is in dressage, the higher level it can be in the herd. I think that is unlikely, but possible. She described her Thoroughbred, as he moved up in the levels, he became herd leader, one chosen by the herd, a kind leader. I said, "A *passive* leader?"

She said, "Yes I read Mark Rashid."

I said, "Good cuz otherwise I'd have to give you his books, and they're all in English!"

This time KT was dressed more formally in shiny leather half chaps and black and red. She looked great, and she admitted she felt bad when she saw the photos of herself riding Mara. "I really can sit up straight on a horse," she said.

I felt bad I did not have my camera this time. She even looked up, not just at Mara, as she rode.

She tried to teach me a Western exercise where the horse is bent to the outside but moves on a circle. That's a trip, something new for me. Mara could do it for a few steps only.

She really likes Mara and offered to buy her again after asking about her breeding. Nordic, the gorgeous grey Arabian, came over and I said, "Oh he's so beautiful" and KT said, "Yours is prettier." Well, that's just not true. Nordic looks like a show-bred Arabian, he's 16 and hard to find physical fault with, and thinks he's a stallion still and carries himself so. Everytime I get close enough to see his silvery grey muzzle, I think of Baasha who had that same muzzle. Perhaps KT likes fluffy chestnuts *lol* I admit, Mara is not ugly, and I love her stockiness. But today as I was lunging her I said, "Geez Mara, your head is looking especially boxy today."

Mara and I were both bit by horseflies - I had blood running down my arm from it, so it was kind of miserable but KT seems to really enjoy working with us.

Looking forward...

***
* - Get the balance right  is an old Depeche Mode song, and who knew, the band plays my favorite arcade game in the video, Galaga. Oh, and Alan sings!? And Martin, take off that stupid looking hat.