Good ponies

Thursday I rode Luca, he was good enough there's nothing memorable about it. I also worked Tillie re: leading because she wanted to be an idiot over everything. There was a marked improvement by the end. I think she's probably like her dad, she knows the rules but doesn't mind a bit if you don't enforce them. I drove Reno with Robert, then helped Chris (I think? Or Colleen) harness Rocky before cooling Reno out and unharnessing. I had enough time to walk Keno around the little dressage arena thing once or twice before it was time to feed.

Saturday was pretty deserted, since Gillian was busy and Robert was at a show with Reno. I rallied my courage and took Niki out for a spin all by ourselves, saddled and whatnot. Cari and her boys showed up so I figured as long as I left the gate open, if Niki killed me she'd probably run back to the barn, and someone would notice and investigate. The ride went pretty well, nothing worse than regular greenie. She was about as upset at any given time as Star gets about cantering, so life could be worse. She really wanted to inspect Mamacat, who is ginormous and looks like she's about to pop. I rode Keno for a while, it was a windy day and he acted up a little bit, but not too bad.

Tuesday I got there and Gillian was tacking up Star, so we played with saddles for a little bit. Imp etc. came back and Robert and Linda and I played with saddles some more, which is fun. They jokingly suggested I jump Imp.... mwahahahahaha. I don't think I've seen him canter before, but his trot is not a jumping trot.

I got Niki out while Robert was at lunch. She was good again. We have a lot of resistance at the trot, between speeding up and headshaking. This is a problem especially around the corners. Saturday she had a little bit of an epiphany where, oh hey, it's easier to do corners if I'm not counterbent, weird! And it got better, but it was pretty bad today too. So we did a 20m squareish thing. I'd half halt a few times before each corner, just with the inside rein, and that cleared everything up a LOT for her. Much steadier pace, and no head shaking. We even did some loose serpentines. She's resistant to the idea of not being on the wall, but we can work on that and it will be fine.

She was walking around on a loose rein, very pleased with herself, and I figured that was the place to stop arena work at. We went outside and my goal was to cross the culvert today. She had a moment of confusion where she clearly asked me why we weren't going to the hay barn, but kept moving pretty happily. There were plastic pots for plants that she was uncertain about until she figured out that grass was growing in them! Om nom nom. We stopped about twenty feet out from the culvert when Niki was struck with suspicion for the water running under the bridge. She wasn't terribly stressed, ears forward, she clearly wanted to go to the other side and go exploring but just didn't have the confidence under saddle. We edged forward until a flock of birds flew out from the reeds and spooked her hard. We backed up until we almost ran into a tree (and I was just imagining the result of that on a mare who can't deal with anything behind her), but I got her turned and moving forward, at which point I hopped off and led her over the culvert a couple times. The first time she was definitely uneasy. I have a fair bit of patience as long as she's uncertain over something, rather than just having a hissy fit. She does go willingly through puddles, which I find way too entertaining.

Rode Luca, he was pretty good. More focused on Rocky and Robert outside than me on occasion, but honest and willing. I think the saddle fit was a big part of his misbehavior, but asking a lot more of him than just "go this gait along the rail for ten laps" makes him think too, which is nice. We worked on opening a rein and leg/seat pressure turning, which is my version of neckreining- dunno how the western trainers do it. I got Luca turning fairly reliably as long as I remembered to use my seat. Gillian and I determined that while it's close, I cannot quite touch my toes under his barrel. Luca was a little offended by this but bore up well.

I sat on Keno for about ten minutes just because I wanted to sit on him. He was pretty happy with this arrangement. Definitely beats working.