Ole! A great lesson on Ole.

I'm seriously in love with this saddle.

Had a great lesson on Ole the Haflinger today.  He's still very much a work in progress, but I can totally see that in a few months he will be even more of a blast to ride than he is now.  Mia said that today he finally looked relaxed and happy, and I really felt that on him, too.  He was forward (he sort of has to trot fast right now to stay balanced since he's so out of shape!) and really willing most of the time.  He has a little pony balking action in him sometimes, but nothing that a quick tap with the crop can't cure.  Overall he's a blast and I can't wait to start cantering and jumping him sometime soon! 

Oh, and I get to ride him in my favorite saddle ever... a Courbette Pandur Spezial.  It's funny, I'm kind of a confirmed dressage rider but I swear this saddle is so much comfier and easier for me to ride in than many dressage saddles I've tried.  So happy to be in it again!

Plus he's just ridiculously cute.  He's somewhere in between the really refined and coarse Haflingers, and I think I like his build more than others I've seen.  Poor guy is rather fluffy now with his winter coat coming in, had to sponge him off after my lesson.

New horses and ponies galore!

In less than a week, I've ridden two new-to-me horses, and had really good rides on both!  One, Glory, is a Paint mare owned by another client at the barn who's working with my trainer.  She's definitely a mare, but has the best sitting trot ever.  Had a good first ride on her on Friday, even though I hope to never ride in her saddle again.  My but was seriously sore for days, it managed to get me at all the wrong angles.  Today I rode Ole, my trainer's new Haflinger pony.  He was so much fun, we even trotted over some poles, did some baby leg yields, and walked a little bit on the road by the end of the ride.  He exudes something similar to Indy personality-wise, totally trustworthy and a horse I would like to be around a lot more.  Plus we finally get a horse who likes to be fussed over!  A really good horse week.