Who said that white men can't jump?

I have been riding a lovely families heavy built draft horse for almost two years now. Emil is a very pleasant six year old Ardennes (Ardennais), which is a heavy-boned, thick legged breed that is commonly used for draft work.

The intention is to use Emil for both riding and driving in the future but until now we have only been concentrating on the riding part. Emil can be quite fast and strong and had some habits of taking off with the rider on his back when we started training him. He has gotten much better and is very pleasant to ride nowadays. We have been working on basic things and just building up his muscles slowly. (One can only imagine how much time it takes to warm up this amount of muscles). I have also been out for various strolls and canters in the forrest since I believe that it is the best way to build up a horse.

The funny thing is that Emil is a very smart horse. He learns as I tell him and I sometimes find that what I tell him once is usually there the next time. I was very happy and a bit surprised when I rode him on Friday. Emil felt very good and supple. He is still a bit hard to get going straight since he wants to lean to the right, but his transitions from trot to canter are starting to become very smooth and considering the fact that it was impossible to canter him for longer than two seconds a year ago he is now very balanced for quite some time in both directions in canter. He also seems very content and happy and I think that as he grows up he will not only be a pleasant horse to drive or use for draught work but will definitely be a pleasant riding partner for Emil's family. They have done a great job with him.