I am not sure how effective a job I am going to do, writing about today. No, I will not be able to give the day justice. Over the next few days perhaps, once I internalize what I learned/what transpired, but not today.

The news this morning was disappointing. It was decided by the powers that be that Pete and my lesson with Steiner would take place at Arctic Arrow Farm and not at our place. I was disappointed by the news because Pete and I spent a lot of time getting ready for lessons here – and this meant that we would have to hustle, pack quickly, and get the horses into the trailer and get over there at the appointed hour.

The plans were not going to change, so I repeatedly reminded myself that being flexible was key. As we age we become more inflexible and so this was a good thing to do.

And the lessons went very well – this was an incredible opportunity in that we got to work with our horses in a differing environment.

Tyra was the superstar today. We had not had her in a trailer in a year, but no matter. We put Raudi and Hrimmi in first, and with no hesitation she jumped in and joined them. And during her ground lesson, one in which among other things she was asked to pounce on a plastic bag attached to a string, she kept her attention on us and on the task at hand. In the end, Steiner said “Lovely horse!”

Others have actually said the same about Hrimmi – and she did not disappoint either. Pete and Steiner worked with on back strengthening exercises and then under saddle. I had done just a bit of crunch work with her – amazingly, she remembered this. So it is not going to take long for her to figure out how to lift her abs even higher. They also worked on getting her to move along – she still stops some. Steiner was thinking that the crunches would also help with this problem. Makes sense to me – if her back is strong, she will have better balance.

Next, Raudi and I did some ground work. Raudi was more interested in the two stallions at the distance – if we’d opened the gate she would have trotted right over there. She wants so badly to have a baby. But I keep telling her this is not in the cards. We next went over to the oval track. I was somewhat nervous about this, for I feared that Raudi might spook or bolt. But it was something that I knew that I must do.

As it turned out, Raudi had no intention of doing either. Rather, she stopped several times and would not move. She just did not want to work. But I did get her to work and move quickly past the places she was stopping.

Steiner had me lower my stirrups. I guess in riding in and English saddle they should be short and in riding in an endurance saddle they should be longer. I am just going to have to have Pete take a few photos and share them with me.

Steiner and I agreed to keep in touch. In the meantime, I am going to keep practicing the things that he showed me.

Next: 149. 5/31/17: A Conversation with Raudi