April 16 and 17: Liberty Morning, Dinner with the Villagers, and Practice, Practice, Practice

Marti Szczur





 April 16

I love Liberty because it is the true test of the connection you have with your horse. No rope or halter, so your horse is either with you or not or somewhere in between. While Toby is fairly advanced in Liberty, I needed some help on improving my clarity of requests. I wanted him to make a small circle around me, as opposed to circling around the rail of the round pen. He wanted to please, but could not figure out what I wanted. Linda got in the round pen with me to help me understand how to communicate this to him. 

Then, we got the ultimate treat of watching Linda play at Liberty with Jazz and Highland. Linda has such finesse with her body language. She barely moves to "dance" with her horses. They are so connected, and she is so clear with her request. Jazz is elegant and powerful. Highland is so exuberant and fun to watch.  A real treat today.





The afternoon was special because my host/hostess, Bill and Claudia, had a pre-Easter dinner, with their "Villagers" - either guests/residents at their Forever Spring Farm and/or friends, who board their horses with them. I wish I had taken a picture of the food spread, which was bountiful, and company, who were delightful, but I did take a photo of some of the Easter decorations. It was nice to have a family-away-from-family meal for the holiday. Claudia and Bill are so generous with their hospitality.

April 17: Practice, practice, practice

Continue to practice on straightness and tempo. Linda introduced a new exercise to us that Luis Lucio uses with this students, called Sideways Effect. Helps with collection and compression (think accordion) ... more vertical movement, but same tempo.

Luis is a Dressage Rider and Trainer from Spain, and besides many awards and recognitions, he was also on the Spanish Dressage Team. Check out his website … http://www.luislucio.com/index.php?i=en

 

I am lucky enough to be here at Linda’s when he will be coming to give lessons and a 4 day clinic. I will get to have two lessons from him this week and be able to watch all the sessions during the clinic. That will begin on Wednesday, April 20th. 

Linda made some salads for an Easter lunch with homemade bread by Cheryl. Yummy.

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