Okay, so here is a photo of Violet on New Year's Day and I am writing this entry on January 11, 2011. Today I want to write about our late summer and early fall rides in the big outdoor arenas. Violet was amazing. She was big, loose, relaxed, eager. She worked on getting lighter and having balanced gaits. She would travel around and I could just feel her mellow happiness. We would ride at sunset in the purpling sky. We would ride in the blaze of sun. We had a really terrific time. And we really enjoyed popping around the jumps. We learned how to canter the jumps for the first time, during these relaxed sessions. I just loved those days. We did our first flying lead changes at the end of the summer in a private lesson. I think those twilight of summer days in the outdoor arena are when Violet and I truly became Team Tenderness.