Rode another friend’s pony today! (Regular horse had another lesson)

Straight to the arena and warmed up, and he was energetic! Then we set up a little course, and although I felt like the pony was really small, he had a lot of jump! And since it was a wonderful day, after our lesson we got to hack around and got some really nice cantering going! 😀

And I also got to get on him bareback a little later on (only walk/trot) but he had a mind of his own! He was chasing around one of the other ponies and it was hilarious! 🙂

Rode my friend’s pony today since she could not, and my regular horse was being ridden by someone else. It was a lot of fun! First we went on a little trail ride, and then we got into the arena and jumped straight into a mini gambler’s choice! I never realised how tiring they are, always looking for the next fence (which is any of them), and counting the strides to time the jump correctly since it’s whatever course you decide. It was great practice though and I hope we can do it again! 😀

Regular horse needed some farrier work so I rode a fun jumping pony 🙂

We worked on bounces in a circle, and they are a lot harder than they look. It was good exercise though, and it really required focus. It also incorporated the necessity to allow the horse to jump up to me, instead of jumping down to the horse. 🙂

Today we decided to ride wearing onesies! So much fun, and we gave people a laugh.

In our lesson, we worked on transitions and really working the hind end. It was hard, but we’re getting better,

In the afternoon, I was able to exercise my old lease horse and my friend’s horse! Great day 🙂

Today I got to ride the horse I used to lease. It was so much fun, but it was really windy and she was a little hyper! Overall it was fun and it was great to ride her again. She was so energetic and she was racing at the jumps, but in the end she was more controlled after she got some energy out.

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all have fun tomorrow. 🙂

Today my regular horse was a bit lame, and while he was being treated, I still had my lesson. So instead I rode a very fun, large pony, and jumped 3’3″ for the first time! He was so great! We rode 3 fences, one stride apart, and then turned left and rode to the big fence! There was a pole in front of the jump to mark 3 strides, and that really helped us see where the 3 stride mark was, and encouraged us to count it approaching the fence. Well anyway, pony was a superstar and I got to take him around the track for a bit of a warm down afterwards so it was a great ride! A very fun day. 🙂

Today we worked more on lateral, and getting in and out of a bending line smoothly. At first, our bending line was messy and had very short spots. But when I got a better, smoother canter going, and I looked at the out fence while riding to the in fence, we got a much better spot and our track through the line was perfect! It felt like such an improvement by the end. 🙂

On a completely unrelated note, I also got to exercise some ponies and tidied them up before they go to pasture for the winter. It was a lot of fun working with the little guys!

Today we worked on lateral. Really getting our horses to use their hind ends. Definitely not easy, and a lot of hard work, but a success in the end! Should work on this more, lateral is so key to turning to jumps and setting up a good approach to fences. I also got to exercise another horse who spooked at just about everything, but in the end we got a good canter going and he definitely got exercise (which was the goal). 🙂 More on Saturday!

Today, we did a lot of work on striding, which in all honesty I love.

I think striding is one of the key things to nailing a jump course. After working on striding over poles for about 45 minutes, we did a bit of jumping,

A set of one strides, 3 jumps in total, and then a lead change to the other direction at the other end.

The more I work on striding, the more I can feel my horse’s strides and distances to jumps – meaning we stay together fluidly and i can tell when he is going to take off.

Overall another great lesson! 🙂

P.S. I would have posted on the 18th but my horse needed his feet done (6 weeks) and was a bit lame (which is just him, he’s very sensitive to it), which we discovered after a few steps at the trot. So no update for Saturday, as I hardly rode. But I did make him pretty and gave him a lot of TLC before I put him away. But the main point is that since then, his feet have been done and he’s moving better than ever. 🙂

Today we worked on two fundamentals of riding: track and pace.

If we were on the rail, we had to stay 6 feet off it at all times. And as for pace, 4mi/hr for a working walk, 8mi/hr for a working trot, and 12mi/hr for a working canter.

It was a lot more to think about it but it was definitely food for thought, as I’ve never really considered the math of it. It’s always been what feels like is a good distance from the rail, or whether I feel like my paces are working (as in not too collected or extended).

We also worked on accuracy – stopping right next to a cone, or picking up the canter at a certain jump standard, being as accurate as possible. Then trotting into jumps (making sure we rode to the middle of the jump), and cantering away (straight).

We also did a bit about aids: how to ask for a good halt, how to ask our horses to canter, and how to ask for extension etc.

It wasn’t the easiest lesson but it definitely taught me a lot. But hay, that’s what lessons are for. Until next time!