I admit it, I have never really seen Dressage in action. I had seen still shots of Katie D. and Fenway working and heard the passion in her voice when she talked about the way Fenway could move, but mostly the skill and beauty of the sport eluded me.
I also admit to a certain amount of bias based on our earlier experiences at the Dressage-focused barn.
Then my daughter Katie sent me this video.
Wow.
This horse is not only graceful and athletic, she is having fun - as is her rider.
Katie D. is working really hard to get Fenway healthy and also thinking about another horse. I confess to not really understanding the competitive drive she felt, but watching this video, I start to see. I know the joy I feel when Lena and I manage to not only communicate with one another, but actually do something we both enjoy. I see now what Katie misses about riding Fenway, about competing, about working with that level of precision with your friend the horse.
I wish for Fenway to be healthy and happy, and I wish for Katie to find that joy in riding again.
I have a lot of joy riding Lena, though not much precision. :-) My daughter wants to know if Lena could learn some of those moves. I'm sure she could, I'm even sure she would enjoy learning them. I'm just not sure we're the ones to teach them to her - we'd need a lot more training ourselves, first!
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