My girlfriend, Debra Easton took her 5 year OTTB, Cedar, to his first dressage show yesterday. She texted me asking if I could do a reading on him because he was acting like a lunatic. I couldn't do it right away but got to it soon enough and then tried calling her. She didn't answer because she was riding. Then she texted back: "RIGHT before you called he totally settled down very suddenly!!! It was amazing." Then I texted: "That's when I finished the reading. That's great." She responded: "I figured! It was incredible. He just changed. Totally." So here is the reading for you read. I find it quite moving. Cedar is a very sweet horse as you will see...
Hi Cedar: It’s Katherine, Debbie asked me to connect with you because you are out of sorts. Is that ok?
~Yeah, ok yah, uh huh.
Why are you upset?
This is a big change, I don’t know what is going on, where am I? ~The other horses are upset too, it’s contagious.
Easy boy, you are at a dressage show. Debbie is going to ride you for the next four days. You will do walk, trot, canter, circles and lines. You know your job really well.
~Haaaa, what a relief. I just didn’t know, so I was getting anxious.
No worries, it’s a show so you get to show a judge how beautiful you are and how you have been so dedicated to your practice.
~Yes I am very proud. I am very strong and smart. I have learned so much. I want to show how special I am. I want to make Debbie proud too.
Yes and remember that she loves you very much and you are very special to her because you are calm and keep her safe.
~Yes I will protect her. I love her and want to keep her safe. I want to make her happy and proud. I will collect myself and be very strong in my core so she can have fun and feel how strong I am. And graceful too.
That will make her so happy. Thank you Cedar.
~Yes. I am happy.

I learned a lot at the Leohona Rowland Clinic the weekend of April 7. As Teddy and I are both very chill and calm we tend to be slow to get going. I have to change my personality to get him active and forward. I am working on being busy and bossy so he learns to be snappy and move his feet on cue.  One technique I learned was to rein back and pop him into the canter. Here is a video showing the lesson. He is doing really well in his training in the last couple of weeks, we are both getting sharper. I am learning to put the aids on more quickly and he is learning to respond within 3 seconds. 

I had a beautiful energy healing with Kim Conard last week (www.essentialbalancehealing.ca/) . Here is the story that came from the session, which shows the power of distance healing and energy work. She really tuned into my energy patterns, with made me feel refreshed, optimistic and rejuvenated. 

"As soon as I close my eyes to tune into Katherine I am taken to a vision of her standing in a clearing in a forest, it is twilight and wind is swirling around her. She appears lost, frustrated and confused. She sits on the ground and begins to gently weep into her hands. I go to walk towards her and one of my spirit guides appears and stops me. She places her hand to her lips to motion to me to be quiet and watch. We continue to watch in silence, she continues to gently weep. Then a white horse with blue eyes begins to emerge from the forest, he approaches Katherine gently and calmly. At first he simply stands beside her and waits for her to be done crying, and once this release has completed she lifts her head to see him. He bows his head to hers and they connect with one another’s third eye. They sit together like this for some time, her hands placed on his face and both their eyes closed. I can feel her heart chakra opening and the love that is pouring in from him. He is offering her heart a healing. The wind begins to settle, and the stars begin to sparkle above… it feels like the storm has passed. It also feels like this is her sanctuary, being alone in the forest. The frustration, confusion, anger subsides and a beautiful peace returns to her, the essence of love that she moves from and is guided be returns. 
My guide places her hand on my shoulder and nods, letting me know that now I may approach both of you. Katherine jumps on the horses back and takes my hand to join her, we begin to ride through the forest towards the peak of a gently slopped mountain. It is not a Rocky Mountain as much as a hilly mountain, I hear the words Mt.Loki and know that is who we are upon. Once we are at the top we stand together breathing in the crisp night air, we feel strong, centred. I feel the same essence in you that I sense within me. That we are here because we can handle adversity, it does not deter us from our paths, instead it encourages us to become more loving, to have more capacity to assist, to offer us more inspiration. These are the times we came to be in, and we can/will already have endured and grown from our life experiences. 

The sun begins to rise and as grandfather sun begins to touch upon the feet of Katherine she lies on the earth below."

I am so lucky to have a safe, reliable horse. But the trade off is he can be very slow and behind the leg. My coach and I have been working on getting him forward. I need to not be so stiff in my body and allow my hips to move with him, otherwise my hips lock up and so does Teddy. In this video I am working on being very relaxed and not concerned about getting him in a frame, just going forward with him using his body. 

I have been visiting Cochrane, Alberta over the last few months. I have been riding with my girlfriend's Grand Prix Dressage Coach, Sheri Dumonceaux. I have been learning a lot about dressage! I have also been riding other horses and going on epic trail rides in the Kananaskis. Here is a clip from my ride with Tiki last week. You can see she is resistant to contact at first but then relaxes and goes on the bit. ​

This is just a brief note to let you know I am raising my rates slightly to keep up with the rising costs of inflation. I try to keep my rates accessible to everyone, thank you for understanding.