Two Good Rides = Perfect Day

Thank goodness, the ring is no longer a swamp from the snow we got on Monday! :D I rode both Lyric and Gambler today, and they were both really good for the most part. Lyric is the mare I ride for my barn owner. She's green as grass and can be sort of flighty, but she's such a fun ride and I'm learning dressage on her.

Lyric is cute, no? ;) 

I haven't ridden Lyric in a little over a week, so she was a little fresh, but honestly - I much prefer a horse with some go than a horse who takes a ton of leg (*cough* Gambler *cough*). The first couple minutes of my ride, I really worked on my seat... I'm still getting used to riding in the dressage saddle but I think I'm finally getting used to it. Then, we worked on some bending stuff at the walk and trot because she was drifting out a lot on the circles I had her doing. Once we got that down, it was another issue of course - this time she was getting really heavy on the forehand. Urgh! Always something with the greenies, right? Anyhow, we worked on sort of rocking back and such and then I did some half halts with her, more for me than for her. ;) After that, we did just some trotting exercises and such to get her into a good frame and working from the hind end. Ended the ride with a relaxing canter - man, that girl can move!

All in all, I'm pretty proud of the progress Lyric is making. Especially considering I don't ride her that often. I feel like she's finally starting to settle down a little which is a relief to me. I was really proud of her today - there were some deer running around in the field and she hardly batted an eyelash. She's also finally standing for the mounting block which is quite nice. The tarp in the field is still obviously a horse eating monster but hey, we'll work on that.

After I put Lyric away, I went to get Gambler. Gosh - I was so excited too because he had followed a horse over to the fence, so I was pretty stoked that I didn't have to wander the 40 acre field to get him! Yeah, I should be so lucky. I turned Lyric out and off she went so of course my horse followed. Anyhow, I took a treat out with his halter so that he came straight over. He practically dove his nose into his halter which is such a huge improvement from the horse who hated having his nose touched just a few months ago. Anyhow, I lured him back to the barn with the treat which he got once we were out of the field. Smart, no?

There were some other boarders in the barn so I shed Gambler out on the fence line. Spring is officially upon us! He is shedding like crazy. Same with Lyric! I can't wait until they get their shiny summer coats! Also, now that Gambler has his blanket off, he is so dirty! The only thing I'll miss about winter is having a clean horse.

Anyhow, Gambler was so good about standing to be groomed! I'm still too much of a wimp to put him on cross ties after I almost had a horse flip over because she spooked in the cross ties, so I'm really thankful he ground ties like such a champ! Unfortunately, he still isn't that good about standing to be tacked up in the aisle, as we're just transitioning back into the aisle after being tacked up in the stall. When my trainer got there, we worked on that and eventually he was doing better and stood well. So down to the ring we went! There were two other people riding their horses down there, so the ring was kind of crowded, but Gambler was really good.

First of all, he was so great about standing for the mounting block! I was such a proud momma! My trainer, Sarah got on first and rode him for about fifteen minutes. She even cantered him both ways! He threw in a teeny buck going to the right, but that's just baby dweebiness for ya, I suppose. This was his first canter back after the UlcerGuard (which we still have a week more of), meaning he hasn't been cantered in about six weeks because of the time off he got between the time we figured out he had ulcers and when I actually got the medicine. He was so good! He did get the wrong lead going to the left, but oh well.

All of the horses watched our lesson :3

 After that, I got on. First off, let me just say that I'm so freaking proud of how far he's coming along. He's gotten much better about not diving onto the bit, which I'm so happy about. He hardly did that at all, the whole ride! He still has some attitude, I speculate part of it is that his stomach still hurts a little but I just ride him through it. We did walk-trot both ways and some various exercises. Also, I've apparently forgotten how to keep my heel down. Agh. My lower leg needs a ton of work. It was bugging me so much because usually I have really good position. Oh well. I haven't really been riding all that much so hopefully now that I'll have more saddle time, I'll be back to my old self in no time.

Circles,  circles and more circles!

We've also been doing a toooooon of circles, and man have they paid off! Gambler used to not be able to bend to save his life and also he would do all sorts of weird stuff with his head.

Fast forward a couple minutes and Sarah told me I was going to canter Gambler. Eek! I was excited but not going to lie, a little nervous. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't nervous that he'd buck or whatnot but my grandmother was watching and I didn't want her to freak out of he did something. It took a lot of leg but finally I got about 10 strides out of him. My horse is so lazy, oh my gosh. I'm seriously debating getting spurs or something or at least riding him with a crop; I worry that if I constantly have my leg on him he'll get dull to the pressure sooner or later. Anyways, his canter is ah-mazing. Seriously. It's so nice and up hill and collected naturally. And so easy to sit! I can't wait until I can start doing hill work and trotting and cantering up hills... helloooo nice top-line!

I might have another lesson with Sarah tomorrow because I'm on spring break. I also will ride Lyric again and I get to ride Auggie! So yay for that.

As for things to look forward to, I'm going to start riding Gambler in the field soon! I'm telling myself we need one week of rides every day before I take him out, and I'll probably have Sarah ride him for his first time out. I've taken him out into the field once and we just walked around.. He was of course a saint, but for more than walking, I don't really want to be the first one on him. :P

Well, off to shower and then maybe get chipotle because my dad is eating at work.

Oh, and side note? I freaking adore my barn owner. Seriously, she's so amazing. Like, I have no clue what I'd do without her. She's just so supportive and an amazing listener, and I just adore her. I had a minor melt down at the barn last week and I talked to her more about it today and just feel much better about the whole situation. So yay!