Violets & Dandelions

"No hour is wasted that is spent in the saddle."
Winston Churchill

Dancer always comes when he is called. Nava follows him, then as usual she tries to escape through the gate to join us.

Friday, Dancer and I spent a happy half hour grooming. His new shoes look great. I ordered extra large bell boots for him, as the blacksmith recommended.

We managed to have an excellent lunge session. I am going to start training him to harness, then hopefully buggy.

We had a great ride. The little kitty did not come and visit us in the arena.

Dancer is still having difficulties walking in a straight line, though he trots and canters in one. I am trying to position myself carefully so it is not me causing the problem. We trotted for much longer than usual doing circles and figure eights.

We had a nice canter in either direction. Dancer wants to canter collected. He was on the wrong lead and changed automatically, that feels sort of like a buck when he is already doing a collected canter. Eventually we did a gallop around the arena. Our first gallop!
To cool off, we rode up the lanes to the road, then back along the hay field. I plan on riding bit by bit into the hay field so we can get over being scared of the wild turkeys. He isn't afraid of geese flying up under his nose, but he is afraid of the turkeys.

As I walked him back to the field, I let him nibble along the grassy lane. We had such a nice ride today.