Hot hot mess

I got assigned to ride Oreo aka Cookie today. He's a little jumper pony, and he has quite the personality. Everything must go in his mouth, except the bit. The bit cannot go in his mouth, but once the bit is in, the reins are the best to chew on. To Cookie, head shaking is allowed at all times, no matter how obnoxious and meaningless it is. He can only be on the bit for a maximum of 3/4 of a lap; he must speed up when he is exactly 20ft down the long side closest to the barn. Ah, yes, the life of a cookie.

"No, come back, let me bite your vest"

Cookie fits into your typical jumper pony mold with a touch more weird. As with Rosie and Christopher Robin, watching other people ride Cookie has made me nervous about him. Being on the team basically guarantees that I will have to ride him at some point. I was hoping that Miss J would just keep pushing it back, but I guess today it had been pushed back far enough.

It was definitely worse than riding Rosie. I was tense from the start. Tied stirrups and having to use double reins for the first time—Seriously, why, just why? Either give me a snaffle or a curb, but do not put them together because I have no idea what I'm doing, and I will not touch that curb because I still do not trust my hands—didn't make things any easier.

I spent most of my time doing half-assed circles. I think I did a full lap around the arena maybe 10 times total. When we cantered, I didn't leave this one section of the ring because I swear I would've leaped off of him out of fear. Don't get me wrong, there were definitely moments when we both settled and looked like a respectable pair, but that was only 10% of the time I spent up, and we have hour and a half lessons.