What a ride

Wow, I missed riding.

Today was only the fourth time I have been on a horse since November, and I missed it. The day was close to perfect: sunny and dry.

Kate and Dada reconfigured the riding area to make it really long rectangle. I couldn't believe what a difference it made. It was so cool to ride Louie down the long straight-aways. I didn't go fast or anything, but he builds up a head of steam and I really felt great riding with him.

The vest is a little huge, but it really does a wonderful job keeping me sitting straight, don't you think?

I am riding with a dressage saddle, so I don't have a saddle horn or anything to hold on to except Louie's neck, which is pretty strong. I think, though, Dada is going to put some other bit of tack, real or improvised, on to give me something to grab.

Again, the only bad part was getting off Louie. I think I stop before I am really exhausted to keep from riding too long, but I wonder if I should push myself more.

Of course, it was my first ride in almost a month. I think stamina will come.

After I rode, my friend Caroline rode. She hadn't ridden in almost five years when she started riding a few months ago. I couldn't believe how good she looked on Louie. I may need to ride twice a week or she'll get better than me!

Movie stars

It was rainy and snowy last week so I couldn't ride, but I played around with iMovie and posted a Spirit slideshow on this page.

Ridin' high

OK, maybe not what Bob Marley meant, but I had a great time.

It felt like forever since I had ridden, but I soon forgot that because it was so beautiful out today. Louie was wonderful so was everyone at Spirit Field.

I was a little worried when I got on Louie because my right hip stiffened up, but it felt good soon after.

Most of the lesson we just threaded through cones. Dada said it's a great way to get back into dressage and it was pretty muddy in the ring anyway.

I was trying to use my legs and weight to get Louie turning. Dada noticed, and both she and Kate said I looked really good.

I kept feeling like I might pitch forward, but I didn't, not even when we trotted. Louie has such an eager stride anyway, it seems easy to get him trotting. My head bounces around like crazy but it is so fun.

Spirit invasion

We had a board meeting of Spirit yesterday at my home. It was quite good, perhaps because one of Claren's best friends came over to play. The daughter of the Spirit president has a service dog, and he and Claren were kennel-mates. I so love watching them play.

Spirit is branching out to Middleburg! It sounds great, but I won't say much so I don't jinx it. Hopefully, I will be in Middleburg the weekend of Memorial Day to help show it off.

We'll stay in Great Falls, too, so I will keep riding there, assuming of course that the ground finally dries out.

There are unofficial rumblings that the para equestrian trials might not be in Morven Park in May, so we will wait to hear more about that. I hope they stay there, but even if they don't, the plan is to enter more local competitions even if they aren't designated as para-equestrian. Apparently, as long as the judges are OK judging me then it is OK to ride.

That will be cool. Now I just have to start riding.