Breakthrough!

Dear Friends,

Walter Zettl has just concluded another visit with us here in Ocala, and my lesson on day four was a huge breakthrough! All of a sudden it all came together, everything Walter had been trying to get me to feel. As he said, it's like watching grass grow – it seems like nothing is going on and then suddenly the green tips shoot out of the ground!

On day three, he had me do more than half my lesson at the walk! It was really hard for two reasons: having to stay that slow for that long and getting the walk right is not easy! At one point, he reminded me that one of his masters would keep a horse in walk for a year, and after that, everything else came beautifully easy.  I've often thought I did a lot of walk, but doing it for half an hour made me realize that I don't really do it for long enough.

After what seemed like an eternity, more than three quarters of the walk time, something changed. Suddenly Remmer loosened up, his back came up, he started to swing in the walk and his contact to me via the bit was lovely. No tension anywhere. And suddenly I felt like I could ride better! Everything went to a new level of harmony. I couldn't wait for my lesson the next day! On the way home, I practiced picking up the contact and letting the reins long again until I could do it without any change in Remmer's footsteps.  I walked him on the driveway, too, so I could hear the footfalls.

Day 4: Right from the get go, Remmer felt different. As I mounted him and began to walk from my pasture up to Pat's barn and the Precision Pen (about a mile away), I noticed a completely different feeling. He was more fluid, his back was pushing up into me and his walk had a longer stride.

As I walked on a long rein, I began to pick up the contact, engage my seat and ride tall, and Remmer rose up with me. He softly came onto the bit and never once changed the rhythm of his walk. I could feel his back pushing up into me. BLISS! I even tried a few steps of trot and then canter – not too much, just a taste because I couldn't resist that thought of how getting the walk right would impact the trot and canter. I couldn't believe it...Remmer's trot felt springy and alive and his canter was really uphill.

I walked into the arena to begin with Walter and told him of my experience. A warm and knowing smile came over his face, and we began the lesson. This is the first time I felt harmony for more than 80% of the lesson, and everything felt easy; Remmer was round, powerful and springy. I have it on video, so that night I was keen to see if it looked as good as it felt...and it did. I think it's the first video I've ever felt happy about! The others, of course, showed up all the areas I still really needed to work on.

We drove to the airport with Walter and his wife, Heide, this morning as our flights were leaving at close to the same time. They are headed back home, and we to Pagosa for a few days to do more video clips for the website, audio CDs, etc.

Yours Naturally,
Linda