Okay….so I got another call from Dorothy this afternoon. Let me just tell you that it is really cool to be getting phone calls from Dorothy Crowell on a daily basis to discuss MY horse. It’s so much fun to hear someone like her describe the rides she is having on my horse. The news, she said, was very good. I listened as she told me about the gymnastic she set up to test his footwork. It was very low at first, but very technically challenging. Gus did everything perfectly. His footwork was great, and they proceeded to raise the fences and add more to the exercise. He had no problems with any of it. Dorothy had Michelle (her working student) set up a difficult single fence on a difficult line, and Gus had to jump it from a very hard angle. She said he locked on and never made a false move. She and Michelle both agreed that Gus would have no problem doing Prelim. and probably Intermediate as well.
Dorothy rode Gus in her saddle today. She said it completely changed how he felt on the approach to the fence. His canter stayed even and rhythmic. He didn’t scoot through the gymnastic and get quick and flat. She actually said that “he was a pleasure to ride”. She will do one more day of jumping, and then just flat work and hacking on the weekend. On Monday I will go down to take a lesson…. and pick up my “future intermediate” horse.
Maybe…………
I told Dorothy that I called David Stackhouse yesterday about getting a saddle made for Gus soon. We discussed the “next steps” for Gus and me. This was Dorothy’s plan….
1. Leave Gus down at her farm for the next 6 weeks to get fat and strong (going up and down her crazy hills!)
2. I would come down regularly for lessons.
3. Gus would go to Florida with her (and hopefully I could go for at least a month)
4. I would show Gus in one Training Level event and then hopefully move up to Prelim. in Florida
5. I would stay at Prelim through next year—all of 2011—and try to move up to intermediate after the 2nd full year of Prelim. (unless for some reason he could go sooner)
6. Somewhere in there she mentioned doing a couple of 3 days
It all seems so easy to do…..it is starting to seem possible to ride at the upper levels. The only thing I am missing is a pot of gold.