Here there be dragons...

"I'm telling you stories. Trust me." - Winterson

Why bother?

Was teaching a lesson the other night in a school environment. Reasonably good young rider, ready to put her horse on the bit but of course no idea how to do so or what's involved (barn is primarily *shudder* hunter or up/down -- I'm the only one who teaches dressage or xc, much to the amusement of my students :) -- so I get on horse to see if *he* knows what's involved. Yes, yes he does -- but in the 5 mins I was on him you should've seen the audience that gathered... General commentary was "we've never seen him do *that*" before!" which, given that he clearly knew what was expected w/ only a minor reminder is kinda sad. But I hop off and put student back up and sure enough w/in 5 mins or so she has him beautifully through, has a new appreciation for how much leg is involved, and a huge grin on her face "this is FUN!" hahaha and later confided to me that she really didn't want to ride that horse and had been going to ask for a change but was now really happy about it. hahaha and those moments are the reason I teach. Sooooo good to see that lightbulb turn on :) Now the interesting part will be seeing what happens *next* week.

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