So When You Think The Girth May Not Be Small Enough...

Indy had a really great day yesterday. I am incrediably proud of her. Firstly, I clipped her legs for the third or fourth time and she was an angel. THEN we saddled up in a borrowed Parelli Fluidity [which I have to stop doing, because I know Indy LOVES it and not my saddle anymore] and a borrowed girth. Well.... the girth, on both sides of top holes was really just holding the saddle in place, but it was ok, so off we went.

We rode in an arena starting at a walk and then she kept wanting to trot so I said hey cool lets do a cloverleaf pattern then. So clover leaf at a trot we did... except on the long ends, where she cantered. Overall very impulsive and go-y and not so much paying attention to me, so I didnt slow her down, a couple of times we used the fence to stop, but really we just kept on the pattern. Until she finally just trotted the pattern and then *poof* clicked over to LBI and stopped in the middle and looked at me like "So.. what are we moving around for?" Which was perfect. We walked around a little more and then I jumped off.

When I got off I noticed something rather interesting. While riding I thought my stirrups sounded extra jingly when hitting the girth buckes but just thought it was because they were to high. Now that I was on the ground I could see the actual issue. I could see AIR between Indy and the girth. AIR! It was just hanging there, completely loose, not doing anything at all really. HMM! The saddle didnt even move though, so I suppose thats nice that I am balanced? At least a little bit. Anyways, that was fairly interesting, so I just unsaddled her then re-mounted bareback because it was nearly lunch time. We moved a couple of cows before heading down.

THEN after lunch Indy and I played cow pony a little and it was fantastic and I am so proud of her. We also got some help with our fore/hind quarter isolations for pivot/turns and that helped LOADS. So.. YEY INDY!

Both girls got their inspection today for their health certificates to go home.... I am planning on it being toasty warm when I get there. I am having to much fun here though.. I cant believe its been three months already! Where has the time gone?!!??! I am so not ready to go home, but the bank account demands I must. Dang.

On the up swing, I may be able to conduct a sort of business proposal that will result in my having a delightful Parelli boarding/lesson barn in my area. So joy for that, because it has an indoor arena! I am trying anyways! So, if you could have a playground to play in at your boarding barn, what would you put in it? A honeycomb? A bridge? A pedestal [or several?] Trees to jump? I need ideas so I can plan. I have some, but others are always welcome!

:-)
S

Just Ride As Fast As They Run!

That is really what riding is, is it not? Just riding as fast as they go, and not falling off....

Anyways. I got a nice lesson in just that today from my delightful pony Indy. Also earlier this week, but I cant go into that because it wasnt my horse. The point was reinforced this evening though with Indy.

She is an interesting combination of Right Brain Extrover and Left Brain Introvert. Yes. Seriously. It is really difficult to play appropriately and effectively with her because strategies for both horsenalities are so different. B and I took our ponies over the the clover leaf arena to let them run around. Chance ran around like his usual Arab-y self and Indy gave a good account of herself, but pretty quickly turned to grazing. We played some catching game for a while. She kind of didnt want to hang out with me but eventually came in and we walked and grazed for a while.

We played around with a little bit of liberty for a while but I haltered after she left me once or twice because she was nervous that she couldnt see Chance anymore. We played around some more online outside the arena. Circling was the game, no matter where I moved, I wanted her to circle me at a trot. It took her a while, she thought the game was falling leaf, but she finally got it so we paused over a jump and I had her jump the tree a bunch of times until she relaxed with it.

We ran around playing a little more until my addiction kicked in and I just *had* to get on...

I tied up our 12' into reins and mounted her bareback. We trotted around for a bit, point to point and over some small logs. She kind of just takes an extra big step over small ones because shes tall. Around this point I am realizing an interesting phenomenon. On Indy, bareback, I am super ultra confident to point her at jumps. On the other hand, I am as yet a smidge leery to let her run. Or at least I was. Hence todays title. We trotted around for ages, over things, point to point and she was very go-ey so finally I just let her canter places. We did more point to points and I pointed her over more jumps and she kept wanting to go faster and faster. At first I interrupted a bit, and she owuld slow down to a respectable canter, so I knew at least she was listening to me. So I let her go. And we blasted around point to point galloping and jumping, bareback in the Enchanted forrest - the only people out there by that point because all the students have left and B was elsewhere with Chance.

We had an amazing time just going around. I was humming different tunes for different gaits and generally just giving her her head as long as she was going where I wanted to go and stopping when I wanted to stop - her stops are getting really good to!! But as we are galloping around I realized that I could just relax, since I knew she could stop. She is really actually quite smooth so it got really fun when I got confident.

Today was a really good learning experience. Just go with her instead of trying to hold her back. Funny that I could do it on a horse not my own earlier this week, but then with Indy I was reluctant... Well not anymore!! We busted around and it was wonderful and happy and smooth and FAST. So jumping AND galloping are now on the OK list with her bareback.

Funny side note though - because of her dual horsenality, canter circle are basically non existant, but straight lines are a go... I am still working on figuring that one out... she flips so fast!

:-)
S