Bareback & Bridleless

Well, bridleless then bareback. Zoey & I got in a short and relaxed ride today. It was a struggle to pull her from the pasture; Piper and Nik would've rather gone in (for some strange reason), but their owner was there to help me out. She was laid back, so I rode her in the halter. We just did walk and trot, and I was done in 15 minutes or so.


I've been debating taking the halter off completely and going sans head gear. Yeah, I trust that pony enough. She pays attention, but the leg cues aren't all there, and I usually ride her on lesson days and would rather not run over a child.

Ponies = large toddlers
 I had a half hour private around 2:30, and Miss S made it a bareback lesson. We did a small figure 8 at the trot, which was good. It was moderately successful at the canter. The main focus was getting me to loosen up my shoulders, but today literally everything else felt stiffer than usual. Stiffness didn't help when three poles and a crossbar were introduced. More time was spent circling to keep Baby slow than actually doing the exercise.

In other news, I've been thinking about the whole college riding thing, and I'll likely not end up doing IHSA during my freshman year. Between school, MHSA finals, and MAEF, I'd rather not stress myself physically, mentally, and financially.
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Comments

  1. emmaMarch 23, 2015 at 3:47 PM

    bareback lessons are HARD haha - good for you for trying! re: IHSA, if i remember correctly there's a certain number of years you're allowed to show (5, i think), and alumni are allowed to continue if they haven't reached that limit yet. might be worth finding out for sure tho if you're thinking about skipping freshman year

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    Replies
    1. T. A. Eyo ¥March 23, 2015 at 10:15 PM

      It looks like I can start my sophomore year so long as I'm not officially signed up, but I can still only do it for three more years :/ Why can't a Masters count as an undergraduate degree???

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