Riding Ring of LOVE!

This past Sunday I didn't get to ride. Instead, I was at a baby shower. Ugh. I thought it would be a total snoozefest. But oh so luckily, I was wrong!

I ended up having a great time, and I even won some potted pansies playing baby bingo! But I still missed riding Lilly. Because of course the weather was perfect that day. Wouldn't you know?

So last night I hurried to Bill's for my Wednesday lesson in the ring. Bill told me he was going to video the whole lesson. Which was fine. I want to see the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of my riding! Brandon came as a spectator. He took all of these pictures. I got started with some flexing.

And then I trotted around the ring. You see Getty is there helping out with the lesson. She was zooming in circles around Lilly and me like a border collie. While trotting I tried to keep my feet from flapping. And I sat up straight. And remembered to look straight ahead. Bill's video will reveal how fabulous my trotting was.

Oh what a darling horse!

What I really wanted to do was initiate a change of lead at the canter. Because Lilly seems not to care when she is on the wrong lead. I always thought, who cares what lead she is on? On the trail, it does not much matter. But it is a good skill to know and I am determined to get it right all the time. We cantered for several loops on the wrong lead. I did not want to break the canter. So I kept asking her to switch. And she kept answering, Bugger Off! Finally, when I exaggerated the asking, she did it! And that is when I ended the lesson!

So all night she can digest the fact that when she did it right, she got the reward of getting to stop running around! Hey, I know this brumby is no idiot. She can learn anything.

There's nothing wrong with a wee flex here and there. While wearing pink Under Armor.

The bugs were rather bad in the ring. I'll have to start mixing up my natural bug spray again!

~

You may be amused to hear that before I put Lilly in the pasture I let her graze some yummy spring grasses that were growing in a small ditch by Bill's driveway. Because she was in the ditch her back was so low I got the idea to jump on her bareback. I flung myself at her body 6 or 7 times to with no success. I'd run a few feet , hurl myself across her back and then try to shove my body weight onto her back. Run, jump, heave. Very clumsy, totally ridiculous. Did my brumby move one muscle in all this flinging? No, she did not. She'd see me running at her and then just take another bite of grass. I am happy to report that in my final hurrah, I made it up on to her in a big plop. I hung like a dead person across her back for a second and then pulled myself into a sitting position! Yeehaw, Cowgirrrrl.

One more thing:

Happy Earth Day!