The most recent installment in the lovely series of Viva Carlos's Magical Blog Hops is called Appreciating what you have, and based on the type of progress (and occasional lack thereof) I've been seeing more recently, I can't think of an idea I like better than pointing out just a little bit of the endless supply of traits and qualities I absolutely adore about my horse.
"With training it's easy to know the things you need to work on and nitpick nitpick, especially when your goal is to show. I'm particularly bad at this right now, but getting better due to holding Carlos on an eternal pedestal and Ramone on a stool in the corner wearing a dunce cap."
"Lets take a moment to appreciate the Pros of our current ponies, whether you own them or just ride them in lessons." (all quoted sections directly from Viva Carlos)
What I love about Jazz
I know far too little about conformation for my liking, but I'm told Jazz has excellent conformation.
She is so smart! I could teach this horse by accident (which I technically have done a time or two)
She gets so itchy in the spring and makes all kinds of funny faces when I scratch her
She's amazingly soft on her mouth and usually fairly responsive to leg pressure.
As soon as she has a saddle on her, she goes right into work mode.
She's usually very good at picking up her feet. If she won't pick up one foot, the opposite is almost always packed with mud and a nasty rock or two.
She's mine, all mine.
She has very good ground manners. On one of her good days, she has excellent ground manners.
She leads very easily.
We've reached a point in our re-start where I can ride essentially every time I work with her.
I cannot even begin to quantify the amount I've learned because of her.
I have met so many amazing people and found so many amazing opportunities because of her.
As much as she may misbehave, as soon as I find a way to really properly communicate what I'm asking, she progresses like gangbusters.
She's not stubborn (see above)
She doesn't try to get me off her back all the time (I'll probably do a full post about times I've fallen off her at some point, but she does not play fair. They aren't regular bucks and crowhops, they're twisty, up, down, left and right, so I consider myself lucky she's not often determined to use them against me)
Above everything else, she's just fun. Even on our worst rides I couldn't keep a smile off my face if I tried.
Great list!!! I had to laugh at the bucking comment. I'm looking forward to reading that post hehe.
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