Another Great Ride - Ride 24

I had another great ride on Chrome!  I did take some pictures of the saddle and have some thoughts about it, but I ran out of time to edit them, so I'll post about the saddle tomorrow.

I tied Chrome to a tree because it's been a while since I tied him up and just made him stand patiently.  He needs some practice in patience lol.  The flies were bothering him so I quickly groomed him and fly sprayed him, then I let him stand while I took pictures.  When he was quiet I tacked him up.

I took my time tacking him up because for some reason I normally get in a hurry and he's been acting like he doesn't like me tightening the girth.  He did great today.  I enjoy grooming and take my time with it, so I think tacking up should be the same way.  I must practice that!

I started out just walking him around the yard to get him warmed up.  I decided to work on my equitation since I was in the saddle and he is getting so good at walking and steering.  I've noticed the Aussie saddle makes it difficult to sit in a correct dressage seat.  My thighs naturally slide forward and want to rest against the poly (sort of like the pommel) which puts me in a chair seat.  I was focusing on keeping my knees down, legs back and toes forward.  It was soooo hard!  This used to be second nature to me!  Darn it all those years without a horse to ride lol.

We got bored and decided to herd some ducks (above).  That was fun hehe.  Actually steering and taking a picture was kind of difficult LOL!  Once he was warmed up I worked on trotting for longer distances and trying to find some sort of tempo I could post to (yeah I'm out of practice with that too and I think my stirrups are too short or he's too bouncy because I felt like I was getting thrown up into too high of a post).  He did really well.  He still tries to stop on his own, but a gentle nudge keeps him going.  In fact considering he's so lazy I'm really pleased with how forward he goes off of light leg aids, but he doesn't freak out when I accidentally bump him with a heel or anything.  :)

In the picture above he's settled back down into a calm walk after a bit of trotting and I'm not even holding the reins on my not even four year old with less than thirty rides on him.  :D  LOVE this horse!!  After trotting I worked on steering some more.  I'm practicing making my aids as light as possible so I don't make him dull, so I was holding the reins by the buckle with one hand and using just two fingers (thumb and forefinger) to cue him to turn.  He did so well!!  Heck I could probably teach him to neck rein at this point lol.  

The ride was twenty five minutes and a ton of fun!  I'm loving having a horse to ride and more specifically I'm loving riding Chrome!  He's the best horse I've ever trained/ridden/worked with.  :D

On a totally unrelated note, look how long his mane is getting again!  He's still tearing it out by his withers though.  :(

Anyway I'll post the other pictures tomorrow.  I have a TON of them lol.  Now off to bed.  Night guys!

P.S.  I almost forgot!  I mounted him from the ground a couple of times today.  Normally I use a mounting block (or anything else convenient like a stump or tailgate), but since I had the saddle and no mounting block I just got on from the ground.  He did great, but he definitely does need some work on standing still!  That's my fault though, so I don't blame him.  :D  Oh and I totally forgot to work on the stuff I did last time like backing and yielding his haunches... yeah I am so easily distracted lol!