HT Photo Challenge "MOVE"

Finny's Trot



Our weekly challenge for our Horsetales Photo Challenge for this past week was to photograph our equine friends in the theme of “Move”. Photos are suppose to be ready by Wed. The last 2 weeks have been crazy around here, so today, I decided to work on last week’s and this week’s challenge. I’m 4 days late for the “Move” challenge, but I’ll be 3 days early for this week’s challenge of “Free”.

I decided to go into my archive of photos. I just didn’t get the horses running today. We had a warmer day, the sun was shining for a few minutes, so they just wanted to stand and doze.



One of my favorite moments this year was riding my horse, Finny, at a Centered Riding Clinic. We were doing a lot of long trotting, so I was practicing 2 -pointing. At this clinic, I realized that with the Centered Riding exercise, “Dancing Knees”, my body moved more freely. I allowed my leg joints to relax. I learned to let my body move as the horse moved. Even though I have always ridden like this, the realization of “letting go” was amazing. Light bulbs lit brightly in my brain, my body, and in my soul, and I knew that I was on a wonderful journey with my horse. This moment started my Centered Riding journey.



These pictures may not be clear as I would like as I was in an indoor arena. I had a clinic participant take pictures of me. I am so glad that she snapped a million pictures of Finny and I. These are wonderful memories that I will always hold dearly in my heart, as I lost Finny to colic a month ago.

These photos of trotting and 2 pointing on Finny will always bring back wonderful memories of the two of us conditioning for our last CTR. We had many moments like this in the field. Ears perked. A long strided extended trot. Feeling his muscles beneath me as we effortlessly covered ground. Feeling the fresh, cool air of fall.



I loved Finny’s long trot. Finny will always be special as I started him as a young horse, after he was orphaned at a month of age. I taught him many of the maneuvers that we needed to know for our trail competition. He was a lesson horse for some of my advanced students. I started my Centered Riding journey with him. I loved his willingness to learn. I loved how he would pick up the speed a little and “move” on out.

Come along on this amazing journey with me.