WE CANTERED!!!!

And it was magical! I'm still on cloud 9!!

It was a gorgeous day and I hopped on Dan. I did my "three ways to back up" like a good girl and off we went. We did a little bit of ring work first. He was really good! We're starting to have better steering. And he didn't try to leap or buck once! There were a few shoulder bulges and we may have exited the dressage arena a few times, but in general, he was much more cooperative. :) So as a reward, we set out for a solo trail ride.

Because how could we not?! It was GORGEOUS out.

 
We started off in the XC field and headed to the right over the little bridge. Danny had been a bit scared there before because of the cars but today he just marched on through. We then did some trotting and he was great. He crossed the creek like he's been doing it his whole life (which.. is actually true, so....) and trucked on. He didn't spook at the things he was spooking at the other day which makes me might suspicious that he was playing the "What if" game and/or trying to get the other horses to play with him. 

Since he was being so good and it was such a beautiful day... I decided to try for the canter. We crossed the creek and were on a good path with great footing and confining trails so I clucked and closed my leg... and we were cantering!!! IT WAS AWESOME!!!! I knew baby horse had an awesome looking canter, but OH MY!!! OH MY!!! It is a magical canter... a dream canter. So rhythmic, so uphill, so floaty, so lofty, and so smooth. It was GLORIOUS!!! He came right back down to the trot too as we hit the end of the trail. I seriously got goosebumps!! And may have squealed in delight! 

I was so proud I almost let him swim but decided I needed to take off the tack. So we headed back on the trails and cantered some more! He even does the snort with every stride. I LOVE that!! Oh gosh... I could ride that canter all day. So I had to do one more canter. This time we were heading towards home and he leapt up into a big canter!! A nice forward XC canter!! But he settled down quite nicely and despite heading towards home, it only took a few strides to get him back to the trot when I asked.

So after that I took him back and untacked him and hopped on Fleck bareback and we all headed to the lake for some well deserved relaxing.

And then they both got to graze for their hard work. 
Man alive though...I am PSYCHED about Danny!!! He really is going to be super lovely! I just hope I don't screw him up. But so far, so good. I'm really excited about his flatwork. I think he's going to be quite fancy! And if he loves to jump as much as I think he will, he may just be a superstar!! I can't wait!!!