Perfect Strike

It got cold last night so someone is wearing his first blanket!! Assuming it’s his first based on his reaction to it last night. Lol.

Horses are funny. So this week we have moved to a 5 day schedule instead of the 3 day schedule we were using before. Barring “weather “ of course. So we had been just working on lunging until this week. And Stryker has been getting with the program fairly well. Not perfect, but good enough.

So this week I decided that it was time to break out the BRIDLE. Which he was not interested in btw. So I would go into his stall, attempt to put on the bridle,which he in no uncertain terms was not interested in. Then after messing with this for a bit, I would go get his rope halter and we would go out and practice our lunging. Not a lot, just like 5 laps or so each way. Then we would come back and he would allow me to put on the bridle. Then we would do the flexion work and put him up. So that is how it went for 2 days.

Today I woke up thinking that if he would let me put the bridle on straight away then we would just do flexions and call it good. And, believe it or not, THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED. And the bridle looks so nice on him. I will take a picture tomorrow.

So today was day 2 of learning to lunge. He did great. We actually did a few trot circles. He is great going to the right but tends to get stuck going to the left. Which is typical. No video this time but hopefully next time. He did try to run off a couple of times but fortunately I was able to maintain myself.

I still can’t get him to take anything from my hand but he is beginning to eat cookies from his feed bucket. So there is hope. Plus he does respond well to me saying “good boy”, so there is that. So much stuff to teach him. I need a way that I can make sure that he gets it. Or I can just keep quiet when he does something right. We will see what works best.

Not doing much but pillar 1 work. It’s too hot 🥵

Friday I gave Stryker his first full body hosing off. Mostly because sweat had collected on his back and it looked crusty to me. He seemed to enjoy it. He kept trying to drink from the hose. But I got him “cleaned off” and put him back in his stall. Right before I had HEAT STROKE and passed out. Fun fun. Apparently it’s something that people with Parkinson’s struggle with, heat regulation. Wonderful. So I made a mental note to keep this in mind and hose myself off, too.

Sorry, no pics.

The Art of Producing the High-Level Horse

In today’s world, where goals are king, results are worshipped, and egos often take the reins, we’ve lost touch with something essential: the art of the journey. The quiet, thoughtful process of developing a horse, not just for performance, but for partnership.

Too often, the pursuit of high-level training becomes a checklist of movements, an external badge of status. Grand Prix as the pinnacle. Piaffe, passage, pirouette all proof of success. But we rarely stop to ask: Success by whose measure? And at what cost?

Because if a horse’s well-being were truly at the centre of our goals and not just a footnote in our mission statements our training would look radically different. It would move slower. It would feel softer. It would sound quieter. And it would be far more beautiful.

Producing a high-level horse is not about simply teaching them the movements required on a score sheet. It’s about cultivating a horse who is sound in body, stable in mind, and joyful in spirit. It’s about shaping one who offers those movements willingly, expressively, even playfully. Not as a result of pressure, punishment, or the clever placement of aids that corner them into compliance but from a place of physical readiness and emotional trust.

And this……….this is where the art comes in!

Imagine dressage as a painting. Each training session is a brushstroke, delicate, deliberate, layered. The impatient artist might throw out the canvas at the first mistake. But the true artist? They work with the paint, blend it, adjust it, stay curious. They know that beauty often lives in the imperfection, in the subtle corrections, in the layers of time and care.

The same is to be said in riding: the art lies not in domination, but in dialogue. Every stride, every transition, every still moment is part of an evolving composition. The rider’s aids are not commands but questions; the horse’s responses are not obedience but answers. Together, you create something greater than the sum of its parts.

The highest levels of dressage are not the goal. They are the byproduct of a thousand conversations, a thousand small moments where the rider listens, adjusts, supports, and receives. When done well, Grand Prix is not a performance. It is the horse’s voice, amplified through movement.

To produce a horse to that level is to understand that their body is not a tool, but a home. Their mind, not a machine, but a mirror. Their spirit, not a resource, but a companion.

This is not just training a horse
It is stewardship.
It is art
And it begins not with ambition,
but with reverence.

Race record:

Pedigree: