Don't try this at home... :)

This week's Theory Thursday is dressage. hahaha actually had fun with this one :) Let me know what you think!

So I've been having a lot of fun w/ my little horse this week. Tues was a super-quick flat ride cause I was short on time (but did get to go ride a bunch of other very nice horses :) Wed we jumped around a bit, mostly at the trot, but got up to some decent height. Big enough that I was impressed she could trot it -- esp as she entirely launched me when she did it :) Cleared it significantly. Fun fun fun. Anyways completely no stress fun and entertaining and Si was all about it *g*

Anyways, Si needs her teeth done, so dressage is kinda a write-off these days. So I randomly decided that I'd try riding her without a bit, but as I lack any form of bitless bridle I had to be creative. Simply attached reins to a noseband and away we go. I had done this once-upon-a-time with Zel to great results, but she was significantly more trained at the time *g* So I hop on my pony (who was fairly chilled out after the jumping yesterday; I'm not *completely* insane :) and was pleased to discover walk/halt transitions were a complete non-issue. Before too long we were good at w/t/c and doing 20m circles and serpentines. I was pretty impressed. Stop and go was no problem -- the response was exactly the same as when I have a bit, so I was thoroughly thrilled at that. Turning, however, was a bit more of a challenge. hahaha apparently I rely on the full-cheek a little more than I realized! So now I know what we have to work on :) But really, in less than 10 mins I had pretty complete feedback that I have really good gas and breaks, but no steering. My mum's comment: "not a Toyota is she?" hahaha made me laugh :) We def occasionally have the unrequested inexplicable acceleration too so who knows :)

Flat was really successful and informative, stop and go home right? Yeah you're not new here :) Why not jump? Jumps were all very low and in the same places they'd been when they were high the day before so a reasonable setup. This was when I learned just how much I position her when we jump. Cause w/o me setting her up, first she was *very* confused, and after that as eager as ever but man did we ever end up in some really scary places. I could still control the pace w/ my body, but the refinement necessary to keep her balanced and to a consistent spot.... Not so much. Good to know. Need to do some work on letting her figure it out, clearly :) But on the plus side, she was eager and happy about it.

Anyways -- it's been an entertaining couple of days if nothing else :)