So what discipline do I do, again?

Friday I rode in a western saddle for the first time in forever.  Today I rode in the jumping saddle and popped over a few x's (my first attempt at "jumping" in 5 years!)... all this a) on a Fjord and b) at a "dressage" barn!  I think the fact that I had so much fun doing both of these things really reaffirms to me that my main goal riding will always be to have fun doing whatever the heck I'm doing at that specific time.  No need to pigeonhole myself into one discipline or another.

Ended up riding Radar in the western saddle last week basically because I was curious.  The saddle's owner had finally punched another hole into the stirrups so it was more feasible to ride in, still a bit too long but manageable.  Had a lot of fun just playing around with applying all the Mary Wanless techniques to a saddle that at first feels very different (where are my seat bones here?)  Radar doesn't care what kind of saddle you're in, so we were all good.

Today we worked on getting him nice and in front of my leg... which honestly on him feels a little racy just because he's so naturally not forward and has an insanely short stride!  Mia decided to put up a tiny cross rail and we popped over it a few times, forgot how much fun jumping a bit is!  I have no desire to jump large fences but tiny stuff is fun.  It's hilarious on him with his short neck, you release and you're nearly at his ears! And I'm short - I can only imagine how much more awkward it would feel if you were taller.  But he was perfect and seemed rather happy with the turn the lesson took (anthropomorphizing, but I think I can tell when he's content). 

I'm glad he's in a good place physically and mentally right now, loosing Indy has been a lot easier because he's so much fun right now.