Sunday August 29th

More Cindy Sydnor. This ride was MUCH better. I took joeP out in the outdoor jumping arena to warm up early, rather than just wandering about passively waiting for the lesson to start like I did yesterday. I rode like Cathy Fox was on my shoulder and got him forward. The lesson went brilliantly. I'd taken some time overnight to rebalance the saddle - an ancient little County Competitor. Cindy had commented that it was more of an 'All Purpose' saddle than a dressage ... which it isn't ! So I concluded that it must be sitting with the flaps sloping forward far too much, rather than vertical down to the ground. I confirmed this on the flat, and then added a little more along the panels both sides to give a little more support under my seatbones. I was careful not to overstuff the back, because it has those upswept panels at the cantle and they can get very hard and bouncy if overstuffed, so I added along the base and left it light at the back. Hopefully, the new flocking can move back a bit if it wants to.

My position was better ! Not perfect, but better. I persisted with the stirrups one hole longer than they had been, and by the end they were fine ! Joseph showed off his new-found trot-lengthening very enthusiastically, and was overall A Good Boy.

Ride Log :
HunnyPony - lots of flexing, bending, softness exercises on the single line in the round pen. Lots of trot-canter-trot transitions.

ButterPony - more roundpen work on the line and off. Simple trit-trot round the pen under saddle

RosiePony - trail ride at Mccord. Silly mare. She was really quite sweet - fast, but kind, jumped lots of little logs at Candy Mountain.

TinyPony - trail ride at Mccord. Since AnnieBailes had fun with TinyPony last week, the first time she'd ever ridden her, and jumped a course without even thinking about it ( :) ) we figured she was ready to take her on a trail ride. TP didn't put a foot wrong and the pair of them were jumping little logs and cantering about on little trails, both with big grins. And TP went for a paddle while her Big Sis stood about on the bank snorting like a saddlebred. (Wonder where she gets that from ???)