Sunday, March 22, 2009

Six Months!

Today is my six month anniversary owning Werther. It has been an interesting journey. When I first got Werther, he was very attached to other horses, and a little burned out on ring work. six months ago I had not been riding very consistantly outside of lessons twice a week though my college's riding program because I had been looking for a horse for about year after we decided to retire Wesley. Since I was rusty and Werther was burned out we spent a lot of the summer taking it easy and riding the hunt trails around our farm. When I tried to start jumping again I had issues with my trainer because she didn't seem willing to work with me and put in the time to start back slow with my disability. I decided to take advantage of my huntseat trainer being gone all winter showing to try dressage. We knew Werther had been a dressage horse in the past and Sarah evaluated him as being trained up to fourth level. Since taking Dressage lessons the quality of my flat work has increased greatly and i've decided to stick with the discipline. I think there is a lot more of a chance for upward mobility for me in dressage than there ever was in hunters and in-spite of the fact that the lower levels may look easy to someone who has never tried dressage, it is very challenging. Over the next six months my goal is to show successfully and intro/training level and to make sure Werther works hard but still has a good time. Thanks for reading, I know only a small group of people have posted on this blog, I would love to hear from more of you!

6 comments:

20 meter circle of life said...

happy anniversary!!

Rebecca White said...

I didn't realize we both got our horses just a few weeks apart! (Junior came home Sept. 8th) Happy Anniversary! Isn't it cool to look back?

Ellie said...

Thanks, 20 Meter!

SillyPony - It's been fun reading about the progress you have been having with your boy since we are on such a close timeline. I was skimming through old posts today, a lot of progress has been made, but I still feel I have a really long way to go!

moosefied said...

I enjoy reading your blog. Werther is lucky that you were sensitive to his needs, as well. I hope you keep working great together.

Down the road, I will be taking dressage lessons, as well. At least, that's the goal. Your blog has some good information and inspiration.

Rebecca White said...

I read people's blogs about how many YEARS it's taken them to get to a good place with a horse and I start to feel better about the things we're still working on.

BTW, is he named Werther like the candy?

Ellie said...

Moosefied - I would definitely take some dressage lessons if you get a chance. After all, dressage is a French word for training, and that is what you get. All the everyday flatwork any discipline does and breaks it down to a molecular level and analyzes it. Whatever you decide to do with your boy, it will help you.

SillyPony - That is the great thing about owning a horse, if you ride lesson horses or catch ride you get a breadth of different rides but you never get the same depth that you get when you work with a horse for years. I believe Werther is named after this Werther, I think whoever imported him from Germany lost a bit of the translation that he was sired by Werther and not actually named Werther.