Changing It Up

Sometimes winter is a bit of a funny time of year—we run out of daylight, the weather is cold and dreary, and I often get bored. But it’s also a really good time for me to focus on riding basics like my horses' rideability, my position and making sure I take the time to experiment and add new details to my knowledge. I often pick different people to ride with on the flat or to the jumps in order to expand my knowledge and freshen up my own teaching. I normally ride dressage with Sally Spenard, but she’s gone south for winter, so one of those new people is Britta Johnston, German trained and local to me in Amissville, Va. at Mountain Vista Farm. There are a couple bonuses to riding with someone who does pure dressage: Britta has an indoor with mirrors, which are a huge help, and I’ve also had the opportunity to ride her grand prix horse and learned to piaffe. It’s been super fun to learn to operate a highly trained horse and to get better with my position and seat. 

I’ve also been going to my good friend Lynn Symansky, to use her indoor and be able to bounce ideas and ways of thinking off her about my horses on the flat and to the jumps. It’s great to be able to share ideas about horses. I always forget how hard it is to ride inside though! The indoor certainly points out that you really have to be on your game and ride every stride, though it’s also really nice to have four walls and mirrors. It can be hard when you ride by yourself all the time to have a feel for what things really look like. ​

I’m going to be going to Ocala this winter starting in the beginning of January, and will periodically travel to Wellington and also back to Virginia some to help with horses I leave home and to see Tom. Stay warm, happy holidays, and I’ll let you know how things are going in the new year!