Simple is good sometimes

My lesson today on Indy after a week and a half break was wonderful.  We just took it really easy, working large and focusing on lengthening and compressing the trot, and doing transitions.  He was so "on" today that I got great half halts just from my seat alone.  I kind of love being able to ride a horse that other, more experienced riders tune up for me, lol.  But as Mia said, he does more challenging lessons and can "relax" and go perfectly for me and her less experienced riders.  And he is completely happy doing this.  Really, I think he is utterly content going large and not really challenging himself much at all, lol.  He could definitely get used to it, but mixing the different types of rides is wonderful for both him and his various riders.

Ole! we cantered

I've been having good rides on both Ole and Indy in the last few weeks, but on Tuesday I got to canter Ole for the first time!  Mia convinced me that I should try the canter as, right now, his canter is literally no faster than his speedy trot... and she was totally right.  His canter reminds me of the Fjord I used to ride, not dressage-y in any way, but super comfortable and easy to ride for a novice like me.  It was really fun and a great reminder to myself that, yes, I'm totally capable of cantering!  Hadn't cantered since I stopped riding Radar (in... April? May?) as Indy's canter stride is probably a bit big for me.  Sometimes I'm still not sure I totally trust Ole, but after a ride like Tuesday's where he really seemed happy and willing I'm super hopeful he'll work out.  I just wish he steered a tad bit better right now!  Think we'll reserve cantering for empty arenas for now...

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.

Caveletti and Adjustability

In my lesson on Wednesday, we did more trotting poles, eventually turning them into cavelettis with one side of the pole slightly raised with a block.  Indy really had to use his stifles to think about going up for the raised pole, which was harder for him.  I had to work to get his trot both slow and animated, posting lower yet stronger really helped me do that even though it initially was hard to post low with such a bumpy trot!  It's surprising how adjustable Indy is, because on first glance it appears that he has good gaits that are very consistent but don't look like they'd be easy to adjust.  But he's really responsive, so it's easier than it looks.  It was a really good lesson.

They just know, sometimes...

Had a really bad day but a really wonderful lesson today.  Got on completely miserable, but somehow over the course of the ride I began to feel a bit better (at least for a few minutes).  Indy is so wonderful for rides like this, he's really quite happy going around basically on the buckle and does just about everything right.  We trotted him over some poles today, which I haven't done literally in years (the last few horses I've ridden I have not jumped or done any pole work with).  It was fun, I could really feel Indy's stifles pop up when he really got moving over the poles and picking his feet up.  He really seemed to enjoy this new exercise, really pepping up but not in a bad way.  Another interesting exercise Mia had me do after she was satisfied with the pole work was changing my diagonal on the up beat instead of sitting into it - with his very, very bouncy trot it does help to do that!  I just have to remember to do that, changing on the down beat is so automatic now. 

I swear Indy knew I needed a really good lesson today and was happy to oblige!  But really he's just an all-around good boy who tries his best.

Horse Personalities

It's hard to talk about horse personalities without feeling, well, a tad new-agey. I don't want to fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing too much, but it's interesting to think about. Indy is fascinating to me because there's *something* about him that is inherently trustworthy and kind, without being dull. He is forward, yet contained under saddle... and his personality kind of reflects that. I've seen both ends of the spectrum, horses that are too uppity and those that are way too dull, and he's a nice mix of the two personalities. He has a lot of Ghost's best qualities, which I'm really appreciating right now. I've been doing a bunch of lunge lessons and he's wonderful for them - really, he's so rhythmic that I find him a ton easier than some other horses and great for me right now. He's super-forgiving, too, which is always nice!