I ride Keno a lot

Really, that's about all I did on Tuesday and Thursday. Wednesday I went to the lab and did brain surgery (no, really. On a rat, but whatever.). Thursday I came out again and was generally useless. I watched Gillian break her "I don't ride lame horses" code to walk Lady around and was slightly amused. I watched Pam bounce around and lean wayyy behind the vertical at the canter, and got to tell her "I don't know if you're doing this on purpose, but you're leaning back and that might throw Breeze off balance," as well as how to tell which lead is which while you're on the horse. Yes, really. I helped harness up Reno and told Robert that his hands weren't even, and Reno magically improved. I unharnessed Reno. I finally called Robert on Luca's leading problems and got to watch that, and then got to harness up Luca. Very very shortly afterwards, I got to untack Papillon and unharness Luca.

Then I got to hold an axe with a broken handle while Robert hit it with a sledgehammer to break concrete. Eventually I got gloves and then, even better, safety glasses.

I put pairs reins on minis. I fed horses. I tacked up Keno and warmed him up. A little girl used to take lessons on him a few months ago, but one day he spooked and she fell off and broke her arm. After she healed, she'd been driving a little POA. A week or so she said she wanted to start riding again. So just to remind him to behave, I pulled him out when he'd finished his grain (he doesn't get that much of it, it's okay) and did lots of "pick your damn shoulder up and bend" work.

I need to ride in a close contact saddle more often. Keno is being put in one for the little girl so that's what I put on him. And, um, ow. The seat's completely flat and there's no padding. Which is fine, I rode in one like that all summer, I actually like that. But the twist is way too narrow. My seatbones were barely in the seat, and I felt like you could see air between my hip joints (there's no good way to describe that portion of anatomy, is there? I remember an old instructor for which English was not a first language, and we had to coach him on words. He was very, very hesitant to use the word "crotch." It was kind of adorable.) and the saddle. I got sort of used to it, but I noticed something I actually learned from Centered Riding, which is that I post off balance, with more weight in my left. Something which is noticeable when I'm using my stirrups but not when I'm not, like Western or dressage saddles. I'm not used to having my knee angles close that much, and it feels weird. I like wrapping my legs around the barrel.

Tomorrow will be basically the same-- we're working Reno and Luca, cleaning the cart, and cleaning both of them too for the show on Saturday/Sunday. Maybe I'll take Star out for a spin.