Cantering Fun

First, the bad news. My daughter broke her arm Friday afternoon! She did it falling from her heelies (rollerskates built into tennis shoes). Poor baby, but not a complicated break and her left arm (radius) so should heal up okay. Thank God no worse than it was. Yesterday I thought there was a show at the park. We've had a lot of rain, but I didn't check the website. I was going to take E, my daughter up there to cheer on her barrel friends and, at the last minute, I decided to take Dude and see how he would be and maybe ride barrels. He loaded fine and I left him loose in the trailer since he breaks everything you tie him to, If he breaks his fool neck that's a risk I'll have to take. He turned around a few times, but mostly rode like a sensible 18 year old that he is. When we got to the park, no one was there. But it worked out fine. He bridled and saddled as per usual. I had the western saddle. I mounted in the arena. The sand was damp and deep. He seemed to recognize that he was in an arena and was comfortable with the situation. We trotted and practiced 20 meter circles, halting and such. He's so smart, you can tell him "20 meter circle" and he knows what is coming! He was calm and listening well. So, I kissed for the canter on the long side. Once he got his footing, he started to speed up and I said, "Easy lope" and he slowed right down! He did a little drifting to the inside, but no quick cut or balking or bucking at all! He didn't even shake his head! We cantered in each direction several times. He stayed calm and slow. E practiced yelling over his head from the judge's box. He looked up the first time and ignored her thereafter. He's going to be great in WP!!! I can't wait to beat the pants off Russ Mixon's robots!! Dude, as I have told all of you, is smart and understands English! So, I said "let's practice barrels, Dudie." Even though there were no actual barrels, you can see where they are supposed to be since this arena is used for barrels all the time. He started out on the correct lead at the lope, checked before the first phantom barrel, changed his lead and headed for the second imaginary barrel and checked before it! He faltered a little heading for invisible #3, but headed out there with guidance -- its where the arena was the worst/wettest. After we rounded #3 he loped home in a straight line, albeit on an angled trajectory and stopped when I asked him to. Dang, that was SWEET! I know I'm going to be able to take him to the next show and be confident that he will be fine. Oh, and I was so busy riding, I didn't even hold onto the horn! I credit all this "progress" to improvement in my riding and developing a relationship with Dude. Since it is obvious that he is extremely well-trained and intelligent, I think he just had to realize that I was not going to take "no" for an answer and that I was going to treat him well. I can't wait to canter on the trail. I'm trying not to be too depressed for my daughter since she will have to miss out on swimming all summer and won't be able to ride for a few weeks at the least. I'll have my work cut out for me exercising both horses. It'll be good for my chubby behind. Thanks for reading!!!