Enjoy the ride!

Training continues to move steadily along, hauled Nico down to the Jim Brandon Center on Thursday again, this was the warmup day of the show this weekend so I was able to school him in the actual show ring rather than just the warmup ring which worked out really well, I was quite happy with how rideable he was, sometimes at shows he can get a bit nervous and consequently a bit touchy and edgy but he felt very much the same as at home, I felt I could really ride him and had good access to all of the movements, so our next step will now be to take it into a test and see if we can maintain this new degree of rideability in an actual test scenario, so in the next couple of weeks we will likely be taking in our first show of the season down here, exciting and scary all at the same time!  On the weather side of things we've had a whole lot of rain down here the past week, I know everyone back home is probably feeling very sorry for me haha!  One of the things about being down here in an environment so full of riders from across the continent is that you really become aware of different styles and techniques, which is natural considering there are so many different educational backgrounds available in this sport.   You really get the opportunity to see so many different riders, riding a variety of different horses and get a sense of how they train and how they've come up the levels etc.  When I look back on my experiences over the years and the horses I learned on I can honestly say that in the end it all worked out to make a path that has suited me well.  While growing up I never had the fanciest horse in the barn, nor the best equipment, nor the most lessons, but I had horses who challenged me and I was very committed to the education that I did receive at the time, and being the determined person that I am this was a good combination, as the years progressed and I rode many different horses and was able to gain consistent education I was able to evolve more and more and this continues to this day (and I hope will only continue to grow more each and every year:).  I can honestly say that every horse I've worked with over the years has had a valuable lesson for me to learn, some have taught me more than others and some it took me longer to figure out for sure, but through all the different types and temperaments I think I've gained really useable insight and many tools to draw upon in my day to day training.  I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that there are so many opinions of what the "best way" to learn is and for my feeling it's to commit to a path and then commit to learning on that path and continuing to evolve because no matter what, in the sport of dressage, you will never know enough and as riders it is our responsibility to continue to learn, continue to better ourselves (as riders, horsepeople and humans in general!) and enjoy the ride!