Confirmation, in a Good Way

"Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still." ~ Chinese Proverb

I saw this quote posted on Facebook and it was apt for what I will talk about.

At about 330pm, my cell phone rang and it was Peggy. Her lesson with the eventer was today. She was so excited about how it went and what he had to say about Comrade she had to call as she drove home. I held my breathe because most of what Comrade knows he and I learned together over the last two years. We had a few lessons, two years ago and Mom has helped a lot, but I was still nervous at what someone of this instructors caliber would say.
Well it was good news. He feels Comrade is at a great point in training and is very willing. Whew! His biggest fault at this point is that during right lead canter he leans strongly on the inside shoulder. Yep, totally knew that. His canter work is still progressing since he has only been able to do the work the last 3 months once the joint medicine kicked in. I guess the problem can be fixed, but is technically hard because of the steps involved. Peggy quickly asked whether he could teach me how to work the correction. He said yes, so she will be arranging a few lessons for me. I am a little worried Peggy has overstated my abilities, but I guess I need to take the fact that he thinks Comrade is well trained as a positive for my riding abilities.
Peggy said he rode Comrade for 15 minutes and patted him when he did well. Can I say I feel like a teacher that has a student do well on an exam? When he blocked Comrade's right shoulder for  right lead canter, Comrade said okay that is too hard and he gave him left lead. This made me think about when Mom rides him, he says the same thing: too hard. Then he either does nothing or like with the instructor picks up left lead.
And as good as the confirmation of Comrade's progress was, the best part was Peggy rode her pony walk, trot AND canter. Sometimes I feel our growth and development is slow compared to others, but times like this show that getting things right is better then rushing and missing steps. Plus it gives me hope for bringing Rosemary and Roscoe to their potential too.