I Did A Thing

To recap, this week on ProjectGingersnap...ohh wait, nevermind. There's been no great horsey adventures since our last episode.

I'm still a little lost as far as a direction for my riding this year. I met up with a group of horsey friends this weekend and shared my first world problems (I want to be a better dressage/event rider, but I'm unsure what direction to take with a pony who'd rather trail ride), and one friend came up with a most excellent suggestion:

Buy a new horse to ride and sell it in a couple of years once Sophie is going under saddle consistently. (Or fall in love and keep it, whatever)

A perfect idea! I have the best friends. Sadly, for this blog it's unlikely to happen since both my free time and bank account object strongly to it, and one of my recent promises to myself is to reduce stress and free up more time for me :)

This little dude is Bridget's best friend and I feel like only you guys will fully appreciate the self control I've been using to resist keeping him (the barn owner keeps offering to give him to me)

Friend 2 suggested keepin' on with Bridget, but don't worry so much about how her end of the bargain is going. Focus on keeping myself in riding shape, practice all those little position fixes we all want to address and work on myself.

Friend 3 suggested sending B out on lease and using the saved money to lesson at EC's on her horses.

Options 2 and 3 , or a combination thereof, are worth considering (if I don't win the lottery and default to Option 1)

My first tests this week didn't go well. I attempted to just let B look after herself while I focused on all those pesky position fixes and stretching/fitness exercises in the saddle that I should be doing more. And, B fell on her face about eleventy billion times, pretty much every time I was working on myself and not so focused on keeping her going forward/straight/connected.

Ended on a good note and let her go be a hippo. Eating grass in ponds or ditches is her favorite thing?

Lightbulb: I know she's a tough ride and tricky to put together and balance, but I don't think I realized how very much she falls apart without focused help and her rider giving her a lot of support. I know we've joked that she's the clumsiest/least body aware pony ever, but actually, yes, it's kind of true. 

So, my curiousity is piqued. Is she just that unathletic and lazy? Or have I been micromanaging all this time and failing at holding her accountable? Hmm, things to ponder.

B has been participating in New Years resolutions and been going for long walks in the forest with my husband, G. They're so cute! (but he is shy and also concerned that Bridget's pony size makes him look huge (lol he may have a point there), so this is the only type of picture he will let me post :)

In the meantime, I've also done a thing and signed up for a clinic. Mostly I just wanted to support the clinic organizer, but it's done, I'm in and now I feel like I need to have a plan. The clinician comes from a dressage background, but has more recently bee starting babies and doing hunter jumper and reining. She also judges local shows. Anyone have some great ideas for what I should ask my lesson spot to focus on? I'm not averse to taking Sophie and having a lesson in ground driving or something, but I worry 90 minutes is a bit long for her. Bridget, of course, does a bit of everything, and maybe an intro to reining could be fun?