Just when I thought I could have four days of sunshine to ride Encore! the rain came again and sent me back inside. Encore! and her stable mate Daubry were resigned to the damp, cold weather and simply looked forward to chewing hay. I on the other hand decided it was a good time to think about my dressage letters for the new dressage arena.

My friend Mary challenged me with her expectation for me to create something artistic; something original. I hadn’t even considered the option of making my own letters. I thought about what might work and express my art passion at the same time. Light broke through the creative fog and I knew exactly what I had to do; go to my favorite wetlands and gather smaller pieces of driftwood to form each letter. I could create sculpture to identify each place where a dressage figure would begin and end. My excitement grew as I thought about creating a space with art for training Encore! to dance; art inspiring art.

Making dressage fun is my number one goal for me and for Encore! Now I have a whole new perspective on making the space where we play as much fun as the dance that we do. Thanks Mary!

~ Catalina

Today the rain gave way to sunshine and I took Encore! out with a lunge line snapped onto her bit, looped over her headstall and laced through the bit on the other side. We walked past our dressage arena in progress and enjoyed a light hearted lunge on our smaller square flat. Yes a long cherished dream of a home base dressage arena is becoming a reality. My dear neighbor Jon got a new tractor and wanted to practice. His wife Pam suggested he make a dressage arena for Encore! and me; a miracle to be sure.

Jon is having fun moving the soil and Encore! looks over the fence in anticipation of leaping around on her new dance floor. Yes Encore! leaps like no horse I’ve ever seen for the simple joy of jumping about. She was born to run, but it turns out it’s her time to dance. I’m over the moon with excitement and a renewed commitment to take her up the levels of dressage. She’s a show girl for sure and we’ll have fun learning to tango!

Horses that learn to tap dance are rare, but so are elephants that learn to roller skate. Nothing is impossible!

~ Catalina

Sometimes life’s challenges are so demanding your best pals take a back seat. So it was for Encore! this month of October, 2018. Now, Encore! comes front and center again, and she’s good as gold. Not a shred of disobedience, just a happy girl with a spring in her step and enthusiasm for our walk about.

Most of the afternoon Encore! and her stablemate Daubry enjoyed the freedom from corrals and grazed on the lawn that doubles as a pasture. Ever playful, Encore! chased the chickens, dared the cat and peered in the studio window to get my attention. When I didn’t come out, she nibbled the potted plants and tipped them over for mischievous fun. I always try to give her a time of pure play before I ride. A horse with her energy and intelligence profits from a five acre romp full of interesting things to investigate. Today, after a month of minimal attention, it was particularly important to set her free.

At five o’clock, I put on my boots and set out Encore’s saddle and bridle on the way to her corral. As I approached, Encore! nickered and came to the gate for the handful of rice bran pellets. She shoved her nose into the halter knowing her reward was at hand.

I loosely tied her to the hitching rail and got my flag with deflated helium birthday balloon to see how comfortable she was with the crinkling sound of the tin foil balloon after a month off. To my great relief she was at ease and completely okay with the waving flag and balloon. No more jumping out of her skin on this test.

I brushed her and walked off to the waiting saddle, bridle, helmet and whip. I can’t say enough good things about a helium balloon that is flattened out, noisy and light in the air. I waved the flag and balloon again all over her body and around her head with gusto and she remained unconcerned. I saddled and bridled her easily and led her around to the circle driveway for a review of natural horsemanship circles and backing on command all the time flicking the flag and balloon like a wild butterfly. With Encore! at ease and eager, I figured we would walk around the property to get back into a routine. To my utter amazement Encore! walked calmly through the whole adventure. There wasn’t a moment of refusal or the old nervous response to any of her surroundings! She was a perfect ride. We walked through patterns and halted square. We did leg yield circles and crisscrossed the rough and she stayed focused and happy. Daubry, in desperation for attention, raced around his corral and tried in every way to get her attention but Encore! kept her calm demeanor. I have to say I was stunned with her excellent manner after so many days off. At the end of the forty-five minutes of calm we trotted up the driveway without hysteria and walked on verbal command.

On the circle driveway we halted square and I dismounted with a drop to the ground that keeps my legs tuned. At sixteen hands Encore! keeps me careful on my landing. I lead her over to the small deck off the workshop, untack and put her halter on again. I lead her to the hitching rail outside her corral. I brush her and pick her hooves and reward her with handfuls of pellets. Her happiness is my happiness and the month of desperation dissolves into serenity. Good as gold that’s my Encore!

~ Catalina

Today we had a happy time doing what we do. Circling on long lines is never dull. I stand and walk and “trot” a little along-side Encore! I watch her moves and her attitude from alongside rather than topside and often get a better perspective on how to proceed. The view is fascinating and leads to remarkable insights about Encore! Today I celebrate her talking tail.

I love the position of Encore’s tail. I couldn’t see this if I were riding her. Yes, I could see it if I had mirrors, as many dressage riders do, but I don’t. I don’t even have a round pen, so long lining gives me what I most enjoy, a ground eye view of Encore! in motion. Best of all I have full view of her tail. It is slightly lifted and relaxed. It is bell weather for me. I look at her tail as she trots and canters around me and it is quiet. I often tell her that when every part of her, in all her exercises, becomes like her tail, we will have achieved our goal. Her tail, which she used to clamp, is a hint of how far she has come and how far we can go. I work from her rear end to her head. Encore’s tail whispers, “I can do this with grace and joy today even if I might not want to.” In other words, Encore! telegraphs with her tail that she is willing to go along with the program and possibly even master the art of dressage.

The rest of Encore’s body in motion is often a different story. Fortunately, we’re not in any hurry. I will look for grace and relaxation to move through her body to her head as we proceed. The canter, which is alternately calm and chaotic, still has moments of playful uprising and uneven tempo. Her rhythm is impeccable. Her tempo is like a halting piano player trying to figure out the chords as he or she stumbles along not sure of the melody. When it all comes together, like her steady tail, we’ll be as pretty as a ballet dancer that has mastered her moves and put them gracefully in sync with the music. Until then we will practice, practice, and practice until we get to our Carnegie Hall.

Encore!

I have the magic combination now to keep Encore! settled and prepared for the long and solid path of dressage. We have often, if not always, struggled with focus. Once again, with long lines consistently used for the first half an hour to forty-five minutes of our time together, the ride outside has become the safe and sane experience we both enjoy and deserve. Encore! is a Thoroughbred. She is bred and born to run. With long lines I can take all that power to run long and flat and shape it into strong and floating.We do miles of transitions from walk to trot to trot to canter to canter to walk to canter to halt and everything in between on a twenty meter circle with long lines. We throw in a figure like a serpentine or figure eight at the end of the long lining and Encore! is relaxed, happy and listening. I hope to master all the figures and movements all the way to Gran Prix on long lines as well as under saddle.

Once Encore! has completed her “warm up” we do some mounted walk, trot, and canter transitions together on the circle and then some leg yielding and shoulder- in on an almost flat rectangle. We make do with what we have here at home then travel cross-country to our neighbor’s arena for more fun with transitions. The twenty minutes of cross country is full of restrained, even relaxed, exuberance. After two hours of adventure inside and outside the arena, Encore! returns to her catch pen and paddock to enjoy a happy roll in the sandy soil. She bounces up as if she hadn’t done a thing all day and enthusiastically devours her hay.

I’ve never in all my horse experience ridden a horse with so much enthusiasm for everything. My farrier tells me I’ve done a great job. I look at him and hope he’s telling the truth. He works with lots of Thoroughbreds. To him Encore! is super girl. I can’t help but be inclined to agree. Perhaps it’s the exclamation point I add to the end of her name that reminds me she’s special. Regardless, it’s a joy to think of tomorrow with a ride on the wild side on Encore!

~ Catalina