I took Nova and Velvet to For the Horse Ranch. Velvet gets to stay there the rest of the riding year and be Jenny’s Ranch Horse. 

I rode Nova the first day and Velvet stayed in the pen by herself when Nova was out.  Velvet looked a little anxious and upset, so I rode Nova in the morning and Velvet in the afternoons after that.

Velvet put on quite a ground work display of athletic talent the first afternoon.  You can tell when Velvet feels really good by her change of direction in the circle.  She’s trotting or cantering online and I asked her to change directions.  As she turns, she goes straight up in the air, all four of  her feet about two to four feet off the ground.  It’s something to see!

Most of the other riders in the clinic got to see this athletic talent. The ones who don’t know Velvet were wondering if I would really be riding this wild horse.

Wednesday and Thursday we practiced a lot of simple and flying lead changes in the arena. Flying lead changes are difficult for fox trotters as they stay close to the ground.  A horse needs a bit of suspension to do a flying lead change.  To test this out, skip along the ground and then change your feet. Skipping is sort of like cantering with one foot in the lead.  Changing to the other foot requires a bit of hang time.

Velvet and I did a couple of beautiful flying lead changes. That was pretty darn cool after all these years. For me to get flying lead changes on Velvet is fall to the ground and give everyone a huge thank you!  I could only get them going to the right as my body signals didn’t work very good to the left.

Nova and I need more practice. We need flying lead change consistent practice too which I don’t get when I’m out trail riding her. That’s a lie.  I can do a lot of simple lead changes on the trail. That helps too.

We did a bunch of stuff on the five day clinic.  The flying lead changes are only one highlight of the clinic.