2/23/09 Romeo

Saddled the Little Man up, added the training fork, longer english spurs, and used my french link snaffle bit. I didn't want anything to interfere with him being good, and considered maybe the TT bit was confusing. It probably had nothing to do with it, and was simply a seasonal-Romeo-temper-tantrum, but I was willing to give him some benefit.

He was pretty good. A little stickie in his spins, nice sidepasses, nice gate work, good turns on forehand, a few easy leg yields. Canters were better. We alternated a lot between trot and canter, and at one trot set, he was insisting on going faster. "Fine, little snot. Let's run." So we did...

Ran into a little giggle-snag.... I worked A LOT at trot with the reins sitting on his neck, my hands on my legs. So, essentially, all direction changes, circles, etc, all through seat & legs. He did great! Only a few little bobbles, once almost running right into the rail. Still, it was cool to have that much control without needing the reins. I got a little confident, and tried it at one of our last canter sets. Pretty stinking cool! He did really well, stayed on the rail, no bobbles. At one turn I wasn't sure if he'd need guiding or not, so I didn't... we just about ran right into the rail. I lost my balance a bit, hollered, "WHOA", and he stopped, flat on his front end. Ugly transition, but he never lost control, never got too fast, and didn't flip out when the reins were flapping loose.

A much better ride than the previous few. He'll get a few days off now, as Ransom's up tonight, I'm busy with Choir Fa-La-La Wednesday, and believe I'm getting a massage Thursday (much needed, stretch out & rest all those tired riding muscles in my legs & back).

Last night I watched snippets of Saturday's lessons. Ransom is pretty darn cool! Neat to see... I recognized my seat was pretty good, legs pretty good, shoulders still tend to cave in, and I had "ugly hands". Looked more like pushing a shopping cart than riding a horse. Need to be aware of that in my future rides. Trot on the rail was pretty cool, but again, ugly hands.