Another Romeo

I'd say I'm in love, but I know how the play ends.

I would have posted on Wednesday had I not be swamped with homework (read: math is killing me). The past couple of days have been particularly tedious, but the weekend will be open for the most part. I appreciate the break.

Couldn't be bothered to use actual paper

I drove up with Dia, Kal, and Car (seriously these nicknames are getting difficult). It was an interesting drive to say the least, mainly because I put on the Mulan soundtrack. Gotta be swift as a coursing river to ride a horse, amirite?

I started out on another pony named Leia. Darn these short legs. She was a sweety though and through with a pretty soft mouth. We started out great, but too much hand in a downward transition thoroughly pissed her off, and I was not forgiven. We did get to ride outside, which was nice. We warmed up by trotting around the grass on the outside of the arena. We stayed in a nice line, one behind the other, Leia getting a bit speedy at times, but I'm getting better about half halting.

w/ out scale figure

I was second to last in the trotting formation, and the horse behind me, Romeo, was taking his rider "to the rodeo" as they called it. For some reason, he was just freaking out, not really wanting to go anywhere, but (somehow) his rider was keeping him in the formation. I should mention that he also has ROARS. So, the entire time that we're warming up, all I can hear is heavy, erratic footfalls complimented by roaring. It's like being chased by a lion that doesn't know if it wants to pounce or not. When we got back into the ring to canter, he just lost it and panicked by the in gate, accidentally stepping on Coach S's dog. Other girl got taken off of him, and I got put on. Shaking commenced.

But it actually turned out a lot better than I thought it would. We went straight into the canter, and yes I took the longest time before even attempting the transition. It was a lot of circles and a lot of half halts and a lot of "Good boy"s and "Shhhh"s and "You're okay"s. We did get some very nice transitions both up and down. Romeo is a lot like Vic, just a bit calmer, so enough to push me out of my comfort zone, but not enough to push my soul out of my body. Perfect.

w/ scale figure

He was great to jump, too. He's super consistent, doesn't speed up except when he goes to do a lead change. What's funny is that he has a very up and down canter, so it's imperative that I get up in my two-point and stay out of the saddle until at least the second stride after the fence. If I sink down too quickly, his body comes straight up, and I get a not so nice slap in the butt from the saddle. Just lovely.