How did I get so lucky? I’m in an overwhelmed thankful mindset existing with rain hatred.
I had a lesson today with Erin Patterson. This was perfect timing. Fancy and I have just “jelled” together. Now is the time for Erin to explain to me how/when to get Fancy into consistent gait.
Fancy loves to speed up. Erin coached me through how to not speed up. Timing on my part was critical. “Feel” is critical…feel of the horse and feel on the reins. Twenty plus years of experience under Tony and Jenny Vaught has made me ready for the challenge that Fancy provides me. It took me ten to fifteen years to slightly understand the meaning of “feel”. Feel has been developed in me through these years of Vaught training. If you can understand Tom Dorrance’s book, True Unity, you understand “feel”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_and_Bill_Dorrance
The challenge Fancy offers is fun for me.
Next we got to the next faster gait, the signature fox trot. During our time together, Fancy has gone into an uncomfortable and perhaps too fast fox trot. I’ve wondered if this was a “competitive” fox trot. I can sit this without bouncing if I lean back in the saddle. It’s not something that would be fun to ride. Plus, there is no slower speed.
This is a place where someone who has spent years mastering the fox trotter gaits is able to tell the perplexed rider what is going on. Erin explains, “Yes, it’s too fast. She is lunging her legs. When she gets going this fast, there is little to no response asking her to slow down. When Fancy gets like this, she is a race horse.”
Human pulls back with two hands on the reins and horse goes faster. That is how race horses are trained. Fancy does try to speed up into a canter when we get to this spot.
Erin coaches me through this. We find a much slower gait where I’m puzzled as to whether we are at flat foot walk or fox trot. Fancy is smooth! I don’t feel the flat foot walk, but don’t feel the back legs trotting. What wre we doing?
Erin yells in joy, “You are fox trotting! I yell inside “I’m fox trotting!” Fancy and I go around the arena, mostly in this consistent gait. I’m screaming with joy inside.
We stop and Fancy gets rubbed on her neck with love. Erin explains that Fancy has a very smooth fox trot. If my body listens/feels “hard enough, I can almost feel those back legs trotting.
My brain reacts the next time we go up into a smooth fox trot. This is our first time at a smooth fox trot! Scream!
Amazingly, I have a group lesson tomorrow and a Gaited Horse clinic with Tony and Jenny Vaught this Saturday and Sunday! Could the timing be any better? Hell No!
How could I get this lucky to study under these masters of the horse exactly when I’m ready?
Hate the rain. I brought my truck and trailer over to Patterson Performance Horse Stable to take Fancy home. I turn truck and trailer around for my exit. I park front tires on dry grass to get off the driveway. During this powerful lesson, we had a torrential rain. Luckily we didn’t have any time during the actual lesson where I could not hear Erin.
The rain was horrid. I decided to leave Fancy in her stall. When I was ready to leave, I put on my rain jacket and went outside. The grass, where my front tires were parked, was five inches under water. I had to wade through five inches of water to make it to the truck door. The water was over my ankles. Water poured into my shoes. My feet squished in cold water. Ick!
When I got to my half mile gravel dirt road, I stopped truck, got out and manually changed into 4 wheel drive. I made it home. Rain on Friday and Saturday! Scream. This is a year to hate the rain.