Here she is all tacked up English for the first time. I'm sure she barely noticed the saddle as it weighs so much less than Jenny's roping saddle. She was a bit bothered by the noseband as she's never worn a bridle with that feature before, and the rollers on the D-ring snaffle bit were a bit of an oddity. I need to buy a bridle just for her and I'll put a different snaffle bit in as we could tell she did not like those rollers. Not her mother's child there, oh no, for Asia works those rollers, yes she does. She finds them very soothing and a way to channel her nervous energy. India is much calmer than her momma.
I really like this picture of India trotting as she's not on a completely loose rein. More and more frequently Jenny is taking a "soft feel" of India's mouth and asking her to keep it for several strides. India is no longer tossing her head trying to get away from the pressure on her mouth, nor slowing down, but trotting on nicely. After two or three strides with this soft feel of her mouth, Jenny releases the pressure by loosening the reins. It's a delight to see India becoming more educated. In this picture below Jenny has released the soft feel and is riding "on the buckle," which means that she's got the reins as slack as they can be. English reins are not one continuous loop like most Western reins are, but two straps that fasten together with a buckle above the horse's withers.
Soft feel works just as well with an English bridle as it does with a Western headstall. ;0)
Trotting on a loose rein about to cut across the diagonal.
All done in the ring and India stands quietly.
So damn cold today, too. It was below freezing when we started, being about 29 F (-1.6 C) that we were both bundled up like Eskimos. I've got two more pairs of mittens stuffed in the front of my jacket, just in case, and I'm wearing my winter cycling pants over my breeches and half chaps. Three layers of shirts under my coat, two buffs and a fleece around my neck to keep out the chill, and a skull cap under my knit cap or helmet. I had chemical warmers in my boots. I was just one step above miserable. YES, I AM A SWAMPFLOWER and am ready for July to return.
After we rode in the ring, Jenny rode her mare, Windy, and I on Asia went up to check on the cows. India was a bit startled by the honking, Canada geese landing in Katie's pond, but other than that she was the perfect trail horse. We had quite a good trot all over the terraced part of the large cow pasture and she never got upset when Windy pulled ahead, just maintained a steady rhythm and let me rate her a bit as we went downhill. Windy was feeling better than good, so Jenny schooled at the canter for quite some time, including a gorgeous flying lead change midway through, and India stood quietly while Windy worked on getting her ya-ya's out and settling into the very well trained mare that she is. I was ecstatic because India was very happy to stand quietly while Windy zoomed around. She didn't fidget or stomp, just stood quietly, leg yielding in circles when I would ask.
Such a good filly!
No comments:
Post a Comment