Another Dressage Weekend?

My lesson with Sandra (Dressage Weekend Part III) was so helpful, and had such impact with Kachina (Dressage Weekend Aftermath), that I knew I wanted to work with Sandra again.

Sandra teaches lessons through Skype, which is awesome, and I'm planning to take full advantage of it. However, I figured that it would probably be best to have Sandra meet Kachina in person to get a better impression of her before starting with Skype. Also, my friend KD was really wanting to get a schoolmaster lesson with Sandra and work with her horse too. This winter has been crazy mild, so hauling in February isn't looking as crazy as I first thought.

With all that said, KD and I have arranged (tentatively, based on weather) to haul our horses up to have a mini clinic weekend with Sandra on February 20-21.

Next week: Kachina and I here

The plan is as follows:

Saturday
haul up to Calgary
KD- lesson on her horse
Me- lesson on Kachina
KD- lesson on schoolmaster

Sunday
Me- lesson or Sandra training ride on Kachina
KD- lesson on her horse
Me- lesson on schoolmaster
haul home

Excited to ride this one again

Here are my goals for the weekend:

• Give Kachina exposure to being hauled and ridden in a new place
• Let Sandra meet and understand Kachina
• Get Sandra's first impressions on Kachina's strengths, weaknesses, and potential for dressage (I'm not going to sell Kachina based on this or anything, I'm just really curious, and would like to compare my judgement of Kachina with the opinions of someone more accustomed to evaluating dressage prospects)
• Start getting a feel for Sandra's teaching style so we can be more successful when dealing with the constraints of Skype lessons

I think those goals should be achievable. Anything else we achieve is bonus. While my goals are mostly Kachina-centric, I also threw in another schoolmaster lesson for myself, because A) I'm already there so why not?, B) last one was so fun, C) if we try something on Kachina that is less than totally successful, maybe I can try the same thing on Wrangler after and get a light bulb moment.

The other exciting thing about this plan is that KD and I have agreed to video/photograph each other's rides. I ride by myself 90% of the time and rarely get any photos of me riding so I look forward to having some media to share.

My most recent riding photo - July 2015

My plan is to cut out one show from the schedule this spring to pay for the February trip. I think it's totally worth it. I'm doing my taxes this weekend, so if I end up with a decent return it might go towards even more Dressage Weekends :-)