Jogging

Last Friday I didn’t feel like riding but wanted to give Midnight some exercise. I love to run, and felt the need of more physical activity than just working on ground manners in the ring, so we went out on the trail. I jogged and he trotted, on command, right along with me. The few times he speeded up and got ahead, I just tapped him lightly on the chest with the dressage whip and he dropped right back. We practiced stops from the walk and the trot, backing up, and all the good stuff we've been working on the last couple of weeks. He actually seemed to enjoy himself, and we both worked up a sweat.

It was such a pleasant evening! It's wonderful to see all our hard work paying off. Two months ago I couldn't get him to trot with me at all, much less trot on command and in a controlled manner. It was quite an amazing feeling to share a run like this--something I really enjoy--with my horse friend, and to feel like he got something out of it, too.