Friday, November 8, 2013

Perhaps I was ambitious... And Fancy Pony is a packer!!

On a side note, I *LOVE* sheepskin!

OMG, it's soooo soft!

So, dropping my stirrups in my jumping saddle really hurts my pony's way of going.  Alas, I must not drop my stirrups if I want to keep improving my pony at this point.

Highlights of my lesson:
 - my leg is nicely solid, I just need to think "heels forward" in the bounces (this is likely due to my current saddle pushing ly leg back because I have a ridiculously long thigh)
 - to fix my arms, I must think about touching my elbows together under my boobs (you might be amazed how well this technique works!)

I ride with another girl.  She's young.  Pre-teen or tween.  She felt like she wasn't performing well enough.  Coach was telling her, "You must remember, they (refering to me and Fancy Pony) have been doing this a lot longer, and Whisper has more jumping experience than your horse.  She is also more straight-forward to ride."  I was inspired.  I asked if she wanted to take Whisper through the line a few times.  After some pondering, she decided to try it!

Have I ever mentioned how much I love playing Musical Ponies?

She takes the Fancy Pony around the arena for a couple laps of trot to get in sync with her.  Then, they head for the grid.

ASIDE:  I love grids.  I can't get enough of grids.  Grids give me the change to build the muscle memory I need over fences.  I love getting an immediate chance to fix whatever I messed up!  And I love the way my pony just goes 'boing-boing-boing-boing' underneath me as we ride through them!!

So, Fancy Pony approaches the grid with a kid.  Her ears perk up, she zeroes in on the line, and maintains a nice, relaxed, forward trot...  She enters the grid and picks up her perfect canter, packing the kid through the line!  She cantered out the other side looking so proud of herself (Whisper, not the kid).  We cheer and say, "Do it again!"

And they did!  And another young girl falls madly in love with the Fancy Pony!  And Fancy Pony shows us that she is going to be a packer for the kids!  She is so damn honest when it comes to the jumping!

I am doubly amazed with this mare because she is still not quite a year under saddle.  She's still green, but she is maturing so much!

I'll stop gushing now.  I'm sure it's getting over the top...

4 comments:

  1. Just found your blog, absolutely love your pony!! She is adorable.

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  2. Fancy Pony and you are doing fantastic :)

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  3. Fancy pony keeps getting better and better!

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  4. Aw, you guys are making me blush (almost)! Seriously, though, I'm sitting here at my desk beaming. I keep finding myself in this place of "OMG! I **LOVE** this horse!" and "She's so fun! Here, ride my horse and enjoy how cool she is!"
    =D

    ReplyDelete

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