I’ve officially had Secret Room AKA Salsa AKA Squishy for 30 days. So far it has been a spectacular experience and I couldn’t be more impressed. I can recall driving to the barn to meet with the shippers on January 15th. My brain was racing and I was thinking to myself…”Oh boy here we go, what was I thinking?” The moment he stepped off the trailer I felt a sense of joy and excitement. All of the worries I had about this endeavor quickly faded away. With one look in his eyes I knew he was special and together we were going to make this thing happen.
Squishy has proven to me time and time again that he has the talent and the heart of champion. What we’ve accomplished in our first 30 days together is quite the feat. I honestly never expected to even be riding this horse in the first few weeks, let alone taking him to a horse show.
I wanted to take the time to give you guys a little more in depth look at the process I’ve been using. Thus far its proving to work out really well. The first couple of weeks all of his work was done on the ground. Free lunging and just exploring different things around the barn. Shortly after we added side reins and a dressage saddle to his lunging program. He instantly accepted the bit and connected on his terms. At that point I said why not and began lightly working him under saddle. He has been a pleasure to ride. With the natural impulsion and suspension he is going to be a dressage star. At this time we are only doing walk and trot under saddle. He still needs to find just a tad more balance. Especially to the right (hmm.. I wonder why? LOL!!). Once Squishy is able to comfortably canter on his right lead on the lunge line we will move to canter under saddle. I really hope to achieve this in the next few weeks or so. Stay tuned for updates on that.
I’ve included a short video and some pictures of our boy so you can all see how he is going. I will be sure to continue with monthly video so you can share in his progress with me. Thank you to all who have supported us and our journey thus far.