Two for Two

Today is Friday which is fantastic.  It is my day off with zero obligations.

No clinic to work at, no barn chores, and no lab job and just one day to hang out and do what I ned to do for the rest of the week.

And what do I usually do?

Nothing coupled by going to the barn.  Efficient use of time, right?

I went ahead and rode both horses today!  Pretty big accomplishment in my world.  ;) 

I failed at actually taking a picture of the filly.  But she does have a neck, so here you go.

I rode the filly first and she was just a peach.  We worked on hanging out in the scary back corner where the hay wagon is parked.  She is getting to be a pro in her transitions and it is getting ridiculously easy to pick up a nice, smooth canter out of a trot. 

Way to go little filly.

Sometimes I think I need to pinch myself to realize that she is mine.  She is just so easy going about working.  She is getting fairly reliable about carrying a bend and has some start to what will eventually be a leg yield.  ;) 

Next time is learning a turn on the haunches, I think.

The person that originally did her first few rides was also at the barn so I invited her to hop on and see how the filly has progressed.  Last time she rode, she was still a wiggly, wet noodle that wasn't particularly a fan of moving forward, but this afternoon she had the pleasure of riding a cheerful, happy little filly who is learning to seek and carry contact.  

Yippee.

Then I rode the Semi Feral Mare.  After her theatrics last week, I wasn't incredibly enthused about riding her after having such a nice ride on the filly, but sometimes, you just have to pull up your britches and ride anyway.

I was very pleasantly surprised.  I'd have to say this was probably one of the nicest and easiest rides I've had on the SFM in a long while.  We had a long warm up working on bending and counter-bending and working on finding the corners of the arena, as I have an issue on cutting the corners and not riding deep into the arena.

We hung out on the scary end of the arena for a few minutes and then went to work at the trot and she was happy to carry a good rhythm down the long sides and not try her I-want-to-be-a-racehorse maneuver. 

I also worked on her canter briefly.  She can be fast and unbalanced at the canter from past anxiety, but today we just worked on carrying a couple good strides of canter, then halting and then picking up the canter again.  She had some good moments of uphill, more round canter, so I called it quit.

Tomorrow, there's supposed to be a junior rider who needs more saddletime coming to look at the SFM and to think about riding her, so we will see if it works out.  I'd be thrilled, since it would be more exercise for the fat grey mare!