Rode a small pony today! At first I felt terrible because he’s so small, but he needed a school and when we got in the arena, he was full of spunk! He has a very fast canter, and an awesome jump! We jumped up to 2’3 (this is a 12.1hh pony and i am 5’7 but I don’t weigh that much). It was crazy but he was so much fun and so responsive, and he was really riding better by the end than at the beginning! 🙂
Went on a trail ride with the green pony today. She has been at this facility for about 2 months now, and this was her first trail. I could tell she was pretty happy heading out (I went with my trainer and a friend, both were mounted), but the further along we got on the trail, I could feel her getting more and more anxious. As we reached the end and were turning around, she threw a fit and started spinning and rearing and bucking. I tried to turn her straight and walk her on, but she wasn’t having any of it! In the end, my trainer was on a very calm horse, and halfway back he had to pony her to try and calm her down. Only by the end did we have one more spook, but then we went in the arena for a bit and she was perfectly fine. We cantered a bit (we had trotted on the trail), and then jumped a couple fences, then cooled off and walked in. She needs more work on staying calm in unfamiliar places and situations, but otherwise she is coming along very nicely.
Rode a friend’s hunter pony. It has been raining the past few days, so our covered arena has been very crowded as all the other arenas have been closed because they are flooded. This pony is a super talented hunter, but hates horses coming at him, so I had to be very mindful of my surroundings. In the end, we managed to do a short course and he was really good, so I’m happy with him. 🙂
Rode the hunter pony 🙂
We worked on shoulder-ins, and he proved very good at them. And then we did some no stirrups work, and he became very stubborn. He refused to go forward unless he could follow another horse. I tried to just encourage him to go forward and not be so stubborn, and it worked somewhat, but he was having a bad day, so I let him canter around for one lap behind another pony and then let him walk out and relax.
Rode my trainer’s Grand Prix horse! Wow. He is very big, has a huge jump, and is such a sweet character. He was quite lazy and I had really small roller spurs on, and it took a lot of leg to get him going. We worked on cavaletti poles and getting him on the bit and engaging his hind end. It was extremely exhausting, especially because he was being lazy, but by the end, I got him to canter one lap of our arena. While the canter was slow, it was really amazing. Bouncy and uplifting but very smooth and flowing at the same time. An amazing experience overall!
Rode my wonderful ex-lease! She was perfect at the beginning, really listening to my aids, and then as the jumps went up a bit, she got overexcited and rushed at the jumps and bucked a bit, and ran really downhill. We worked on trotting lines after that, and while the jumps stayed around 2’3 (her limit is around 2’6), she was more uphill and quieter. We decided to end on a good note, and no matter what happens in my lesson, I still love her. 🙂
Rode the green pony. Worked a lot on getting her on the bit, engaging her hind end, and starting to build a frame. We jumped a line, and while she was a bit naughty, we worked on compressing to fit the strides in and riding up to get different strides. She is always learning! So excited for what the mare is going to be like when she’s finished! 🙂
Rode the grey paint pony again! He was very funny. We jumped mostly, and he was a bit sassy to say the least! By the end, we jumped a 2’6 vertical which is pretty big compared to what he usually does! Lots of fun 🙂
Rode my ex-lease again. Worked on a small course over fences, she felt quite downhill so I worked on engaging the hind end and really getting her to move more uphill. She is jumping great! Right after my lesson she got her hooves done. 🙂
Rode the green pony! She was great on the flat, did a lot of trotting, a lot of no stirrups and two-point work/ transitions (some w/o stirrups too) again as well. Did some striding work, and she was a bit spooky by the poles, but I walked her over them and she calmed down. Everything that comes with a greenie! She was great when we were done. 😀