This week, I took Vousy, my 22-year-old stallion, up to Cape Cod, Mass. to surprise my friend Tom Curtin (And you can see the look of surprise in his face in the photo above when Vousy and I walked into the ring). I had contacted the farm owner and Trina, Tom’s wife, to make the surprise complete. The look on Tom’s face when I rode around to where he was bringing up his horses for the horsemanship class was priceless! I enjoyed putting Vousy at age 22 in front of him in the double bridle because Tom put the first two rides on Vousy for his breeder, Mark de Champlain. Twenty years later, Tom and I were able to dialogue about the flexible light contact, the use of legs to seat needed in developing feel and the grafting feel to feel, which to me is the act of training. We also played with the primary principle of Baucherist theory, rocking the weight backwards and forwards on the spot until energetics are freed up in the horse’s feet. Vousy went off into big passage steps after that as you can see in the photo and video below!

Thank you to Kim Macey, who not only made this possible by driving us, but then generously gifted me the trailer ride!
I then had the opportunity to invite Tom and Trina down to play with some trained Lusitanos whenever they wanted.
The sitting was hardest on me, but I am able the morning after to contemplate working in hand and maybe sitting gingerly in the saddle! It’s worth every wince to have been able to dialogue with a trainer whose formation with Ray Hunt put the same goals as mine did with my teacher Nuno de Oliveira. It was also very good to share horse time with good friends.