Report by Karen: What a week! Amazing. I've not been too many places with Chase, and there we were taking a bunch of horses to Equine Affaire, talk about taking the plunge! I hope you all saw the last session, when Leslie rode Chase in the Colliseum. It was a beautiful thing.
Leslie stayed until yesterday afternoon and I feel so privileged that she made it a priority to spend some time with Chase and me at home these past two days. I had ridden him in that big exercise arena at EA on Friday, with Leslie's coaching, which was a big deal for me, things can be pretty crazy out in those arenas, and it was cold and windy too! He has only been to one little breed show and a clinic at my place! And as many of you have seen, he has quite a bit of "life" that can come up! But focusing on that stuff is unproductive at best. We didn't. I just heard Leslie and felt my horse. It was a great ride. And Leslie's associates and my dear friends were so supportive - everyone knew the importance of that ride for me, and Chase. But yesterday had to be the best, after a coaching session on Monday in my outdoor arena, she had me take him up into a strong canter across the cornfield and back up the side of the driveway. He picked up a pretty good speed (he sure covers the ground!) although there really wasn't the distance to go up to a gallop, but he felt great, and I would have felt ok galloping with more room (as you may know, Leslie attaches great importance to the gallop). It was a beautiful sunny day, and a terrific ride. In January I promised Chase, now that my little girl is at school for half a day anyway (!), that I would get a focus on us, and find someone to help me get some things figured out so we could get going together. So you see, these seven days with Leslie have been SO much more than loaning a horse out for a demo. Karen and Chase
