Riding Riding Riding

It seems so weird and exciting to say this, but I've been riding a LOT lately, and not just on Dylan. I have been riding him of course, obviously, but I also have been riding Frank,and the other day I had a wild hair and decided to saddle up O herself and see what happened. Yes, O!

Dylan is a good boy

I've been feeling really physically good lately, like my leg is mostly functional and mostly pain free. I know this sounds completely stupid, but I've been able to post lately... post! Posting is a big deal. I haven't been able to post at all in maybe 3 YEARS because it would leave me completely crippled. When you can post, you can deal with greener horses. I could get around it before with Dylan because I could warmup in walk and canter, and then move to sit the trot, but it's only because he's advanced enough for that. (Now that I can post though, our warmups are so much better because I can really get him stretching and loose.) But I've been sort of thinking about O and wanting to get her back into a bit of work without the risk of having a baby jumping into a carriage with us - and maybe wanting to try some WE with her too. I've thought about it in the past and she might not handle it well, but Intro level is pretty simple walk and trot stuff. Maybe we could give it a try!

O has not been ridden in nearly 3 years though, save for one or two hacks here and there. She was actively driving up until June last year, but hasn't been in work at all since then. Dylan and Cregga FREAKED when I pulled her out, and she did wiggle and scream for them some, but she also ate from her haybag and stood to be groomed and tacked. I picked the trusty ol' bloo bit for her, took her back out to the field, and hopped on. 

And she was perfect. I feel like my defensive habit of getting stuck in chair seat with my lower leg pushed forward has been steadily evaporating, and she was happy to let me put my leg on her. She's so NARROW compared to Dylan... like riding a wobbly broomstick versus a thick sturdy sequoia. Riding him has made me so very aware of every little movement. 

I think it's time to put her back to work. 

Cregga not happy that mom was out and about... here she is about to run into the water trough

Y U TAKE AWAY MAM

I've also been back on Frank after a hiatus off of him. I hadn't ridden him all last month just because I've been too busy, and it's been raining constantly. I hopped on him the other day and took Pax for a drag around - the first time I had done something with her since her last show in April.

GOOGLE EYES

Despite what that last picture suggest, she was amazing. She was still very jiggy and hot and spooky the last time I took her out, but her two in hand shows really seem to have made an impression on her. She was completely cool and calm. And since she felt so collected and Frank felt so good, I think it's entirely possible that when the weather cooperates they'll be more than ready to go on off property trails together. 

And last but certainly not least, Dylan has been going great under saddle. Here's a clip from our latest lesson with Louisa - the exercise we were doing was renvers to a 10m circle to shoulder in down the long side, then medium across the diagonal, to really activate the hind end. As you can see it pretty clearly worked!

When he's not in lessons, he goes for hacks...

That mane.... :/

And rides at WD of course.

Tiiiiiired

He's going great. I'm feeling better and better, and starting to ride less like a weeble and more like a proper person again. It takes so much time and effort, but I am getting there. I am getting there!

Since I decided I should give WE a try with O, I decided I should also break Dylan to drive. What do you think?