Pony Practice

 Remember Pistachio the pony? I rode him several times throughout the fall and went to a driving show with him and his owner, Gretchen. Since starting my working student position, I haven't ridden him too much, but I did get the opportunity to ride him a few days ago. When I took him to the round pen to lunge him, I worked on a few of the things I have been learning with Laura. I walked to his hindquarters, and he moved around his forehand. He turned on the haunches when I turned his head and pushed his shoulder.

Lungeing

 Pistachio's walk looked nice when lungeing; he took long strides and his back swung. He wasn't as loose at the fro, but he stretched down his neck a few times. When it was time to changed directions, he came right to me.

The stirrup is long so I can't get very far out of the saddle, and foot has slipped through.

 Under saddle, I worked on circles a lot to help him to bend. I also tried to get his trot relaxed by slowing my posting and controlling my breathing. It worked! He slowed down and became more relaxed. I also tried to use my body to turn him throughout the ride.

 Although I was posting the trot most of the time, I tried to stay in two-point for a little bit at a time throughout the ride. I even held it around the arena. I wasn't in complete balance the whole time, but I tried to do all the things I did on Lucky: my hands forward and onto the neck, my legs underneath me and shoulders back.

Cutie pony and I

 It's really great I can practice on my own as well as with Laura and apply what I learn to other equines. In a couple weeks, I will be going to another driving show with Gretchen and Pistachio. The last one was a fun Halloween one as you may recall. This one is going to have the three phases of driving: dressage, marathon with hazards, and cones. The marathon is similar to cross country in eventing, and cones more similar to stadium jumping on flat. Knocking down cones gives you penalty ints. It's going to be fun and I can't wait!