Dressage on Brodie

Last night I had a FABULOUS dressage lesson. I had a goofy smile on my face the whole time, and even erupted in giggle fits periodically.

I was aboard the fabulous Brodie:

He's the smallest horse in our training stables, and he jumps the largest jumps. And he makes it look easy. Not to mention he has perfect ground manners, is super snuggly, and is just as cute as a button! His owner, Ashley S., and he are an absolute inspiration to me.

I've been wanting to take a dressage lesson on Mr. Brodles for a while - ask and you shall receive! I'm so glad I did - it was fun and I learned a lot. Here are the highlights:

• He made me work to get impulsion, but was very willing to get on the bit and stay connected. And it just. felt. right. OOOOooooh - THIS is dressage.
• When I asked him to leg yield, he practically jumped sideways! So Laurie shouted "You're driving a Maserati tonight!" Apparently he doesn't need half as much leg as Spirit does. =P
• My first time doing an actual, real, dressage extended trot. OMG fun fun fun!!!
• I had to be demanding with asking for impulsion, but subtle for most everything else (transitions, shifting body parts, etc). 
• Canter was like floating on a cloud.

After I got home later and was telling my husband all about the fabulous ride, I realized what the real special spark of the lesson was. It was the first time in months that I felt 100% SAFE on a horse. Even when he clearly told me that I was doing something wrong, I never once felt that things could go sideways. He had not one ounce of naughtiness, not one bit of green-ness, not one iota of "loose-cannon" ness. Wow. Although I did my best to fix my problems as quickly as possible, I knew in my gut that if I were to sit there all day long and ask incorrectly, he'd patiently wait for me to do it correctly, and in the meantime would not even think about getting light up front or rearing, stopping or getting stuck, run off, or wig out in any way. An amazing feeling to have after riding greenies for so long.