So uh... I rode Niki for the first time since the 26th. That's, oh, only three weeks. Oops.

Got to the barn at 2 like usual, saw Gillian and Star riding in the arena. Robert was out mowing, but I knew he wanted to work Luca, so I grabbed Keno just for some fun bareback in the dressage arena until Robert came back. Keno was fresh today, he started walking away as I swung my leg over and started trotting before we hit the dressage arena. Whatever, I'll work on it next time, it was sunny and warm and it was good just to be outside. I've been in a Cake mood lately and was listening to that, and Keno was obliging enough to trot to the beat of the songs. Our canter-trot transitions were better than they have been. He really favors left lead these days. We went around the arena a few times working on right lead. Did some figure eights with trot across the center. Those went better than last time. His walks were really quite nice, transitions up and down from canter. Gillian was around and I said "look at this!" and we did a beautiful up transition, then came down nicely too. She told me to try it from a halt. So we did that. Cari was outside grazing Xsarena, but was definitely watching. I'm hoping she was at least a little impressed.

I like having a horse I'm reasonably confident on in normal circumstances. I miss the part of me that, when asked "can you do this?", says "eh, why not try?". After we did a couple halt-canter-halts, I figured we'd both had enough. Hopped off and, um, ew. I don't think I've ever ridden a horse bareback to sweatiness, but my jeans were really unhappy with that. I hosed him off. Keno hates water, but he put up with it and stood. It was right about then that I realized how far he'd come from when I met him- an angry pony who didn't think he needed to work for a living, especially not for some dumb girls, and especially not under saddle. Maybe I make this realization a lot, but it'll probably always be exciting.

As previously mentioned, rode Niki! All her tack, distressingly enough, is owned by me. I have almost enough tack to clothe two horses (I need a second girth). And no horses. Also, none of it matches. I hadn't thought about her bitkeepers impacting the way her bridle fit her, but she let me know she was unhappy about the change. So we fixed that and went out. As usual, she's a solid citizen about mounting and could care less. She stood perfectly happy until I asked her to move out. I was expecting a prancy thing since she hadn't been out in so long, but she did her normal, slightly heavy walk around. Both directions. She got a little jiggy going right rein but settled down fast. Trot is coming along, I must say. She was doing really well right rein (some periodic bucks, but more of a kick than a buck), and we were using the whole arena. She spooked into a canter when Cari etc. showed up, but I hadn't heard them call "door," so I don't know if we both weren't paying attention/listening to music, or if they didn't actually call door. Niki was pretty psyched at the idea of working in the arena with other horses and worked herself up decently. We switched directions for convenience and she wasn't... bad, per se. A couple hard spooks at Rocky when he went by the side of the arena we were on, and she started getting fed up with work at the end. But she'd worked up some decent sweat and was still thinking. Also, my knee hurt.

On the bus, Gillian commented on how good my seat was when Niki was doing her pissy mare act. I'm pretty pleased about that- for obvious reasons, but for a couple others. Niki is my first project, not quite from the ground up, but everything above the ground has been with me. So I'm playing with this a little, to see how it works out. I know my position suffers when the horse isn't doing what it's supposed to, but that's typically because I'm trying to do something to fix it. With Niki I'm really doing my best to be balanced and not hinder her- but not help her out either. I know I'm about the maximum size for her, and if I get off balance she'll get thrown off too (we've proven this before). Obviously I don't want to screw her up, but she needs to learn how to carry herself and me. So I'm glad that I am actually just riding things out. It helps that she has a really nice trot. I'm also happy I can do sitting trot. When I was riding at my first barn, my sitting trot was terrible. I'd be tense, bouncy, and forget to breathe. It was unpleasant. Claire worked a lot with me on that and it's amazing how much I've improved.

Also, I look down like a FIEND with Keno. I'm happy I don't do that with Niki. Yet.