Yeah, the majority of the last lesson was done sans stirrups. I guess I was kind of happy about it because I've yet to use a saddle with flex stirrups, which I've grown used to over the past two months. Perhaps I should carry a pair with me to every barn.
It was "Naughty Pony Day", which is pretty much self explanatory. Everyone gets on a pony, and we switch multiple times. I started out on Pixel, who had to be tacked up in the stall, and we had a number of disagreements regarding that. He has a really smooth stride, pretty fancy too. He's a bit green and new to the barn, so Coach S just had me keep it simple. The only big thing we tried was bending, and we all know how I do with bending. I guess the big thing was keeping him moving forward cause he broke quite a few times. Fortunately his transitions are on point.
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| Curious pon |
I switched onto Rain, tiny pinto jumper pony. She has little pony strides when she flats, but she can get speedy, so I kind of freaked out at first. I was only rigid for about a third of a lap before I got myself together. We had a good time. Her transitions were also on point, but I need to make sure that they are relaxed. She was stretching right towards the bit when we cantered, and she was nice and forward and responsive. First time riding a jumper pony. I'm impressed.
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| Kind of angry pon |
Next, I swapped back onto the beloved Twinkles, who is so out of shape that she was pretty worn by the time I got on her. We got one good canter transition. Everything else was bleh, but I do need to actually compose myself for the transition. I regret cantering her without stirrups; she has a pretty choppy stride that you can't sit all the way, and it's a lot easier when I have ankles to absorb some shock. My butt will never be the same.
We finished by switching back to our original ponies and doing the crossbar three times. Again, Pixel is green, slow, and, apparently, likes to over jump everything. Also, I can't see a distance anymore, so the first two attempts were most crash throughs with low amounts of finesse, but the final attempt was nice. He gets a quick simple change too.
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