Yesterday was a day of firsts. First day this year that was absolutely gorgeous- 60ish degrees, sunshine and a light breeze. I even put on sunscreen. First day for Andre to be lunged with a rider on his back, both directions and turning. He was perfect. And, Danny did canter circles under saddle in BOTH directions, with almost zero prompting and absolutely floated both ways. Monica (who was riding him), said it wasn't just a rocking chair canter, it was a 'glider rocker' canter. Danny was so very proud of himself, so we then took him to the big field across the road and he walked around a bit, like he's done it a million times with a rider and then finished with some nice grazing. What a couple of champs! I did get some photos of Andre under saddle, but can't quite figure out how to get them up here (yet). I'll have to inlist a kid. It was a lovely day and if I would have gotten to ride (had to do stalls and run kids around all day), it would have been perfect. But, it sure is great to see your youngsters doing so well. I can see Danny with the tri-color ribbon at a big dressage show in the future and Andre eating up the trail miles. Monica says we don't need to try to sell Danny anytime soon...she's really, really enjoying riding him. Our next goal will be to get Danny off the property and doing this well and to keep working with Andre. Andre is so easygoing that he won't need a whole heck of a lot of prepping before he's ready for the trails, but I like my 'kids' to be very well prepared, so everyone has a great time and there are no surprises. Looking out the window, today doesn't look quite as nice, but it's not raining, so I'll take it.
