Pony Power!

Sorry for the lack of updates. I haven't been up to much horsey things lately since everything has been so hectic with the barns changing. By November I will probably be back to the regular schedule again. Since I haven't had lessons, a woman that I know let me ride her driving pony, a cute cremello/champagne gene gelding named Pistachio. He is adorable! I had ridden in their driving cart last month, but this week I rode him for the first time.

Cutie!

 It was my first time riding a pony, so I wasn't quite used to it at first, but by the second ride on him, I was more used to it. Pistachio isn't worked under saddle too often, but he was fairly good for the first ride besides being very energetic and stopping at one corner of the arena, near his friend, a mini horse. I had to push him forward each time I reached that area.

Cantering

 For my second ride on him, which was Friday, he was much better. There was no stopping at that one corner, and no incidents. I trotted him around the arena, across the diagonals for a bit in both directions, then decided to try cantering him. I made a small circle the right, just as I did with Moe, to ask for a right lead canter first as he doesn't bend well to the left. Once he slowed down and became calm, I vocally asked for the canter. It went well! No sudden bumps as I expected. His transition was very smooth, as was his canter. He only managed a few strides at first, but I worked up to riding a longer canter and even cantered around the entire arena. I was surprised at how fast his canter was. He is speedy, so I had to work on half halting him to slow him down.

 I tried cantering to the left a bit, but I could tell he had a hard time bending that way and only did it for a little bit. I also tried leg yielding him since his owner said that Pistachio needs to practice it. He did it a little bit, yet didn't cross his legs over and go as sideways as he should. I rewarded his efforts with a pat and after a few minutes rode him on a makeshift serpentine(the arena wasn't marked) to get him to bend more.

 I will be riding him more times after this, and next weekend I will ride in his driving cart again and be a navigator for his owner at the driving event. I'm looking forward to it!

 Also check out this giveaway from Equestrian Journey.