Clinic Recap: Day 2

First off, thank you so much for your warm thoughts and comments on my last Mollie related post.  It's amazing how much better absolute strangers can make you feel in a not-so-great situation.

Secondly, I realized I never recapped about the second day of my clinic with Jean Luc Cornille. However I just read Beka's blog post about a seminar she recently attended, where she learned some of the teachings of JLC too!  Super cool to think other people are becoming familiar with him, and liking what he has to say.

I could give you a super boring recap of the clinic, but I've already mentioned most of the high points here.  So instead I'll give you boring video of me walking and trotting super slowly... buuuuut we're in perfect (ish) balance!  It was torrentially down pouring the second day of the clinic but I left the volume on because in between the static noise that is rain on the indoor roof you can make out some of what he is saying.

What I really love about these clips is that you can visibly see Mollie lifting up through her shoulders, and at a few points I swear she grows a whole inch.  When she gets super light and collected she really brings her front legs up, like a pogo stick, as opposed to dragging her toes along in her preferred way of going.

And in case that wasn't enough painfully slow dressage-ing for all of you, here's another video of her from yesterday.  You guessed it, we're still trotting slowly.  All of this technical work has been amazing for her though.  She's feeling incredibly sound and strong, and is extremely happy to work.  That says a lot, seeing as she's a red headed mare and all :)

I've really been thinking about keeping her slow, straight, and keeping my position just right.  It's not perfect all the time but I feel like we're going better than we ever have, and the sky is honestly the limit.  It amazes me that this horse just keeps getting better and is a testament to how important it is to continuously educate yourself in this sport.