What a wonderful weekend! Along with some great weather we here in the northwest also enjoyed a weekend with Christine Schwartz. We had a good turnout for her visit including 7 riders and several auditors. We spent the time improving our own balance with some great excercises and then improving our horses balance. Balance of course equals a better tolt, which was a common goal of all of us it seemed. Both days we played on the ground and in the saddle.

Questions were welcomed and thoroughly answered by Christine or her knowledgable assistant Tammy. I think everyone came away with a clear idea of things to do with our horses to create a better partnership and of course fun ways to influence and improve their gaits.

One of the highlights for me came towards the end, with all 7 of us in the arena together. We were riding drill formations before we knew it and not doing too bad at that. I'm sure all of us could hear the music and the crowd in our heads, well actually I heard "Hands soft!, equal weight in each seatbone, chin up, eyes forward, breathe!, shoulders back, and Breathe! again. I had never done anything like that. What a thrill! I would be first to sign up if we ever do get something organized in this area.

I want to thank Christine and Tammy for coming. I also want to thank everyone who participated. It was great to make new friends and renew friendships this weekend. It was time well spent.

Karen Frogner