Two Horses, One [Lousy] Picture

Aaaaaand we might be back to the land of "I rode my horses today and no one was around to take pics."

But whatever. I RODE MY HORSES TODAY. BOTH OF THEM.

Red was, of course, perfect. The dude loves to go forward. He does not like to stand still, especially when I have to adjust my stirrups. And I realized why I felt a little off-kilter in the saddle yesterday.

This is it. Your only pic for this post.

My right stirrup was about an entire hole longer than my left one. They were both on Hole 11. Way to go, "non-stretch" Antares leathers. And go me for getting that half pad di-rectly over his spine. Everyone is winning. But the other thing you can see is that I really really do need the insanely forward flap on my saddle. This isn't even my "the jumps are big" length and I'm taking up most of the knee roll. Since flaps more forward than this are not made, and a seat size bigger would be too big, this is what I'm working with. I always thought I was a pretty normal-sized person until saddle shopping made me realize that I'm a freak. But whatever. I'm sure having the femur of a 6'1" person on my 5'8" frame will be good for something eventually.

After I hopped off Red (who offered the same delicious stretchy engaged trot as yesterday AND stayed off my left leg after I fixed the damn stirrup) and threw my horses out, I tossed all my tack in the car and sped over to M's so I could see my precious dumpling, Mo. I didn't take a single picture of him today, partly because I was in a hurry and wanted to spend every minute I might need riding, and partly because he looks like he's from Fraggle Rock. My goal for the weekend is to reclaim his mane. If we can get any further grooming done, it'll be a miracle.

Here's the skinny: Mo was better for the tacking up process than I thought he might be. His head-shy issues are certainly back, but I think we'll be able to fix it again if we just keep messing with him. I got his bridle on with no issues, and as we headed up to the ring I thought I detected a certain pep in his step. So I opted not to hook up the side reins before lunging juuuuust in case. Sure enough, one flick of the whip and it was ON.

It was hilarious, really. He bucked hard for three or four laps on the lunge. M and I both burst out laughing. She was sitting on a horse and hollering at Mo: "Is that the best you can do? That's NOTHING." It was so, so funny. Once he got through it, he was licking his lips and trotting around like a school horse. What a dork. M said she thought it was funny that he was walking in and out every day like a dope but he had this huge bucking fit in him. I guess he saved it up for me. I'd have stayed on had I been in the saddle, but I'm glad I was lunging.

After I was pretty confident that he was done with being a butt, I hopped on. He was really, really good. His only job today was to stay in front of my leg (because a horse who's reaching with the front legs isn't about to buck you off or leap sideways). He did that pretty well, though his patented Mo laziness was in effect. I just kept my leg on and he was fine. It's no mystery why he didn't work out as a racehorse. As he often does when he's out of shape, he was really leaning on my hands at times. He'll get over it without undue fuss from me. I was happy today to just trot around a little. I can add transitions and whatnot in the next few days to get him off my hands and in front of the leg.

So that was my day with the boys. They're fabulous. I was happy with how I was riding. I know we're going to have more chilly days ahead, but I think the riding is about to get a whole lot more consistent. I sure hope it is, anyway, because I feel much better today and I need more of this in my life.