It's official

I now only own ponies. Sid's new mom seems great, but it's just heartbreaking. Every little thing sets me off...the show clothes going to storage,  his blankets, boots, and bridles in every closet, pics of our first show on the mantel. The whole apartment is like a shrine to Sid. He isn't leaving the farm he's at for a while, so I'm going to go say goodbye next weekend. To top it all off I just got the professional pics from a few weeks ago. Someday when I'm a little less worked up over it I'll get my favorite framed:

I know it's the right decision for both of us, and I wish him and his new mommy all the best.

Svenna the trail mare!

After living through the first exam, I decided I deserved to have some much needed pony time! We ventured out on the trail with a friend of ours, with her on her very steady horse. The friend, however, is extremely nervous anyway, so we didn't make it far the first day. It was actually ok, all things considered, because Svenna really has done no "suburban" trail riding. She has spend a fair amount of time out in the mountains, but our trails are full of bikers, joggers, strollers, dogs, and the dreaded roller skaters! We even ran into a llama pulling a cart one day! Much different than trees, trees, and more trees, which is what she's used to.

Proof that there is occasionally sun in October

But despite all the hustle and bustle she was really well behaved, which really is no surprise. She just seems to take everything in stride. We went out for a much longer trail again yesterday with a different duo, a 17 hh WBx out for his first trail, and Svenna was a very good security blanket. And she kept up fine, which actually did surprise me! I thought I'd be trotting to catch up the whole time.

She's also been making a lot of progress in the ring, learning to bend that giant thick neck and relax her jaw. She's pretty darn athletic for her type, and I'm excited to introduce her to jumping. She has such a quick mind that I think she'll love it. We've been trotting over poles on the ground, and while she's a bit wiggly (which she is all the time if I'm honest) she always goes right over and doesn't try to evade too much. She's starting to get the hang of going sideways at the walk, and learning to differentiate when I'm asking her to move her haunches vs shoulder. Moving her body parts independently is going to be a huge step for her, as she tends to have the sort of tight, stiff, thick little pony body that wants to just careen around on the forehand.

Back to gray days in the PNW 

The canter is our biggest project at this point, and I'm basically happy with her if she picks up the right lead in a reasonable amount of time and keeps cantering until I ask her to stop. I throw in a few circles, but she is a horrible drifter. She was always ridden on the rail I suspect, because she does not know what to do with herself when she's not glued to it. But as long as I keep my whip in the outside hand, I don't have tooooo many problems with her diving back to the rail, but god forbid I forget me whip! I think that a lot of the "misbehavior" at the canter will resolve itself as she gets stronger/more coordinated/more comfortable in the gait. All in all, I am totally smitten with her, and she has been too much fun so far!

Also, I'll hopefully have a big Sid update in the next few days...keep your fingers crossed for me!

Ready, set....whine!

The same level of grump as me after 7 HOURS of lab. 

Turns out the bitting discussion was kind of a moot point, as I hardly have time to ride anyways. I'm at school till 8 or 9 every night, and have classes from 8:30 to 4 Tuesday through Friday. Not much time for anything really. My classes are really, really, REALLY hard. I have literally never been as bad at anything IN MY LIFE as organic chemistry. Not that biochem is super fun either. Ugh. I have my first exam on Tuesday, so I really shouldn't even be checking in here. But seriously I am driving myself crazy. And what looks better? The beautiful autumn stable:











 











or this horrific beast of a molecule?

Joy of joys!!

The first one. Duh. It's fall, which means beautiful riding weather, perfect hiking weather, great baking inspiration and time to do nothing. It's a good thing campus is so pretty, because the only time I get outside is when I'm hysterically running to and from tutoring/lab/class. 

Pretty colors

Yes, I know I'm super lucky to be in this situation where I get to have the cutest dog in the world, be a full time (non working) student, and have the best pony ever. I know I'm being a bit self pitying. But jeeze, personal growth is HARD!!

A "bit" of a quandry

Since getting Svenna I've been riding her in a HS two jointed D-ring (granted it's only been 5 times!). For the last several years, since being predominantly a dressage person I've been riding ONLY in loose ring/weymouth HS or kk Ultra bits, just various shapes/sizes/joints/diamiters etc. It's basically worked pretty well, especially because as a dressage rider you spend so much time developing contact that you could train your horse to go in almost anything. 

Before becoming a DQ I rode jumpers, and I almost always jumped them in something with a straight rubber/happymouth/or wrapped in latex mouthpiece, but with different points/amounts of leverage or lack thereof. I love the feel of jumping in a straight mouthpiece, but did all of my flatting on the jumpers in my "magic" bit, a 3 piece antique (literally) copper snaffle with 4 spinning rings that covered the middle piece. 

Sooooo...now that I have Miss Svenna I have been thinking about what would work best on her bit wise. I'm not thrilled with how she goes in the HS D ring.

I just had her teeth done, so it's not that. She's just very hard in the bridle. And for no reason. It's sort of the typical pony grabby thing, excepts all the time. She just takes up a lot of contact and tries to avoid turning by just sort of setting her jaw and ignoring. Now, she's pretty green to begin with, so I don't want to over bridle her or anything, but I would have a little more bridle so I don't have to pull so hard sometimes! I hate pulling on them, but I am certainly not going to let my little pony drag me all over the farm. Even though she's kinda green, she's a super trail horse, and I would like a little more bridle to trail ride in, as a "just in case" sort of precaution. It's nice to not have a bit discussion about turning!!

Out for a hack in bedhead

So, all that being said, I'm thinking about playing around with some different bit options. Maybe a full cheek for the intrem while she's learning to turn a bit better? Maybe a little two rein pelham so I have a snaffle or a bit of a "check" rein?  Maybe I should just be patient? I dunno. 

She is an absolute snuggle bugger, she wants her pets even before her grain! And she is already way more obedient, light, and forward under saddle which is super. Also today we cantered some circles both ways, even though I had to chase her into it both times. I took some more standing around pics today while she was begging for food over the fence...she's just so cute!

What a bod!

Tail needs work though...

So, what do you all think about the bitting issue? Should I wait it out or play with some new options? What do you ride in?

Also, got my two point challenge time today: 3:16! I'm shocked I lasted that long...must be all that elliptical cross training!!