Copper has officially been in his new home for 1 week. Giving him time to adjust and get used to a new routine, new environment and new people is extremely important. Tonight I rode him for the 2nd time since he’s been with me, and it was fun.
Getting to know him is very exciting. I know a little bit about his background and because he is a registered horse, I was able to look up his show record – which included Western Pleasure classes as well as Hunt Seat. So he’s got not only experience but a lot of skills. Tonight, he showed off just a little bit of what he knows.
We started our lesson like all of my lessons, we walked around the arena. We incorporated some circles and some small figure eights to see how balanced he is and what areas need some fine tuning. His circles were great, he wasn’t sure what to do for the free walk down the arena, but that’s ok, he will get there.
After our warmup we did some trotting. Copper’s trot is very different from Alfie and Martini and even Thunder Baby Shark. Copper’s trot is forward and a bit bouncy. What was so different for me, was the forwardness of the trot. His willingness to move, his ability to slow down the trot just a tad and to keep going at the slightly slower speed is not something I’m used to. My diagonals were perfect in my good direction and a hot mess in the other direction, so I still have to continue to work on that.
So, after we did our trotting, I was attempting to leg yield Copper over to the wall of the arena when apparently I hit the pirouette button. Instead of leg yielding to the left – he proceeded to turn to the right and he did a perfect pirouette. This move is not easy to do, it’s an upper level move for sure and holy cow, we did it. Now I’m sitting there looking at my trainer, and both of us are just in awe of the pure skill this horse just showed us. And of course, I have no idea what I did to have him do that lol.
After the amazing pirouette, I got off and my trainer got on. She was able to leg yield him to the left so clearly the mysterious pirouette button was all me and will remain a secret until I figure out exactly what button I pushed lol.
The getting to know you stage is just like dating. I’m married to Alfie, engaged to Martini, going “steady” with Thunder Baby Shark and tonight I had a coffee date with Copper. I can’t wait for our next date. ❤️🐴
Confessions of an Equestrianoholic 