New Opportunities!

Since Cody is in Lexington, and will be for a while, I have been on the hunt for a horse to ride in the meantime so I can continue to move forward. Finally, my prayers were answered when an opportunity to train a horse for someone came up. The owner has been wanting to start riding more often, but can only ride on the weekends and her horse needs to be ridden and brought up through the levels. So, I immediately took the offer and finally got on her today.

The mare is a 16.2 hand Friesian/Paint cross named Tori. Tori hadn't been ridden in a year so it will be an awesome opportunity for the both of us to learn. Today, being the first time I have ridden her, we did a lot of long and low, getting her to engage her back, reach over her topline and stretch into the contact. It took several transitions within the gait before she started stepping under herself. She is super soft off the leg, so I had to be careful not to give her too much. Once we figured out the "go" and "come back" buttons, I started playing around with getting a bigger trot, almost a lengthening. Her "go" button only came from the seat, once I posted bigger or smaller, she immediately responded. She started opening her stride, sitting and pushing herself forward. She is also super responsive off the leg, so she will have really nice lateral work in the future. I ended on a good note, today, with the stretch lengthening's. The plan is to start gradually picking her up throughout the next two weeks. 

 

However, her canter transitions are far from rideable, so, I pan to work on them Wednesday. I tried to do some today, but she would get very worked up and tense, running away from the contact and throwing her haunches to the inside. So, with today being the first day, I wasn't going to ask too much and just have a good ride. However, with this being her first ride back in a year, I am extremely pleased.

 

I can't wait to see how she goes. Since she is very steady, I can work on me and my seat. I have a problem of leaning too far forward and not sinking down into my back. Tori will be super helpful to not only improve my knowledge for bringing a horse up, but also strengthen my seat. Her trot is super soft and smooth, so my sitting trot will really benefit. I can also work on keeping my hands down, and keeping a straight line from the bit to my hand, as I have a habit of lifting my hands too far up. She also surprised me with lips covered in white foam from the ride! 

However, I do miss my Cody and I can't wait to see him and compete with him at KDA. Kristin said that he's picked up very quickly and is doing great! I hope that my improvement will show when I ride him.

     Tori just hanging out after her ride!