Denmark: Week 2 already!

Sorry the blog posting is not as frequent as I was planning, but things have been busy! Everything is going really well still, I can't believe I've been here almost 2 weeks. Today I worked my first weekend day. The weekends are different than the week because the horses don't get ridden and only 2 people work. I had a relaxing morning doing chores and odd jobs, all while enjoying the beautiful sun and some extremely happy horses. Morten's riding horses get turned out in huge pastures and love every minute of it. Tomorrow is another easy day then back to work on Monday!

The riding this week was great, once again. I'm getting in the grove of things here, which helps a lot. Things were really efficient and by Friday we were even done early! I am enjoying all the horses for different reasons, and getting to know them is really fun! Morten had a really interesting point, and I feel like it sums up his training and riding style. For example, when riding 2 tempis, his goal is to get it done (no mistakes) and done well. If that means he doesn't do it his way, that is ok with him. His goal is to figure out what works best for the horse (because every horse is different) and then change himself so the horse can best understand. To him, riding is not about changing the horse to fit a generic aid or style, it is about finding what works for the individual and conforming and compromising to get the job done. It made a lot of sense for me to hear this because I am riding new horses who are all very well trained, regardless of their level. I am also riding such a variety of horses that it makes perfect sense that the style and aids that suit a big slow horse are very different to what a small sensitive horse would need. When I thought of riding this way I tried to be more creative and it made the horses happier. Not to say we aren't the teachers, but there is more to bringing out the best in a horse than making them conform to your personal style of riding.

Off to bed now, 10:30 here already! Hope these posts and photos are enough to sustain everyone until I have enough time to write again :)