This morning, the Busches, Barbie, Tom and Angie were going to be showing Roo to a potential buyer, so I decided to relax in bed until late and go out to the stable a bit later in the morning. I woke up late, as planned, and then spent lazy minutes with my laptop, reading the New York Times, Daily Racing Form, etc. Wonderful. Then I knitted and rolled yarn for awhile, went grocery shopping and got gas, and went leisurely out to the stable.And when I got there, boy did I have some fun. Lisa and her mom were there, as was Angie who I hadn't seen in such a long time. Barbie lunged my beautiful thoroughbred and then we hitched her to her cart with no fuss whatsoever and without any emergency ties, and I jumped into the cart and took her for a spin without any assistance except a big audience of friends. Then Barbie and I took her for a spin together, Barbie taking her through her paces. And then I too trotted Violet. I managed to get her to trot around the tight corners without breaking into a walk and we did some really nice diagonals. Both Vi and I are learning a great deal. You can see in these photos, that Vi has relaxed ears and a happy expression. She likes this job and is good at it! She blows with satisfaction when we start out. And what's fun is that you can really see her using her body well. When we take the tight corners, she places her feet and crosses over herself with natural grace and elegance. What a hoot. I couldn't help but laugh at her coolness.
Today was just a big success for us in many ways. First, Vi was hitched in for real and did not take a single mis-step, she just focused on her job. Second, I rode out without any handlers holding onto a safety line. Third, Vi used her body and feet so well -- you could see that she was making decisions about how best to turn that cart. Fourth, I am getting a feel for the lines -- I tend to over-compensate, but today I wasn't too bad. I was especially glad to trot and make those corners.
It was a day where Vi and I enjoyed our partnership. I had total focused confidence in her wonderfulness and she enjoyed working well and solidly for her mom! Namaste from this happy team of two and their great trainers!
