Riding again!

Today was our first riding day again. We got to play with the balls and the seat builders which was fun.

Avery did a great demo on how to get your horse ready and really working with the porcupine game. I'm going to use that a lot when I work with Blue because it will really help with her dealing with pressure behind the ears and not freaking out with being tied.

I went to the shim check and messed with it some, but in the end, I still pretty much hate the saddle! Blue doesn't seem happy with it, I just think it gets in the way, blah... Anyway, it was ok with walk, and trot, but once we started cantering it didn't go very well. There's a downhill slope to the honeycomb, so she really got annoyed at the canter. I think the saddle is just pressing down on her then because she isn't really rocking herself back yet, and then my weight and fluidity isn't helping I'm sure. Anyway, it looked a bit like a stretch/crow hopping session for a bit. So finally I just ditched the saddle and worked with her. I put her in the round pen and for a good two rounds she just stretched her back out. So that tells me the saddle was really messing with her. I'm really going to have to figure this out these next two weeks!

Then after supper I went out with Sandy and she followed me on her Indy and I got to smack Indy for coming to close, haha. After a few good hits she got the hint! Then we took it up to walk/trot/stop/backups and Indy got it! So we quit. It was great for Blue because I was less particular and not paying attention to her and then she likes it much better because I'm not nit picking and I'm slower to correct her, which she's a fan of as well.

Anyway, it's dark out and I'm heading home!!