Tuesday, October 25, 2016

#TeamEllie

It's taken me a hot minute to like Ellie. We've been partners now for two and a half years.

Year one was spent wondering what the heck I had done. She wouldn't pick up her right lead canter for me. I would cry in lessons trying to jump a crossrail. And I contemplated just selling her and ending the madness too many times to count.

Year two was spent learning. She was learning how to carry herself, how to balance, and how to relax to fences. I was learning how to communicate, how to be brave, and most importantly, how to trust.

And in the past 6 months we've been growing together. We've established trust in each other. I love her. And she loves treats.

Ali knows how to push me and our ring has three, count them, three Swedish oxers. This videoed ride was our third attempt at catching a single that had ridden poorly for me each time. With a change in track and a little move up (not without anxious twitching from me) the distance finally showed up. Ellie carried me over all three times at my direction and finally on the last attempt I got it right.

And she was kind enough to do it again just once more :).

3 comments:

  1. These are the moments that make all the hard work and frustration worth it <3

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm proud of you for sticking with her and reaching such success. I tend to get rid of horses if there isn't much immediate satisfaction there (see Roman, lol).

    ReplyDelete