Lesson with Misty

Misty came out to check up on us and just give us some help in general. When she pulled up, I was leading Sam out the aisle to the cross ties. He spotted a (gasp!) horse-eating feed bag out by the tables and made faces at it, but must have smelled the left over grain becuase it didn't take long to get over his worry. Of course, Sammie being who he is, he picked the bag up in his teeth and shook it around at the horse in the stall nearest us, who about had an aneurysm. Silly pony.

After we tacked up and got to the arena, Misty hopped on him to warm him up and see how he was doing. Last time she was out, maybe three weeks ago, he was bulging out around the corners and lugging on the bit- pretty much being a booger in general. Today he was much better. She walked, trotted, and cantered him both directions and showed me how to keep him light in the bridle. He has a nasty habit of leaning into the bit-probably just his race training resurfacing, but annoying nonetheless. He felt so good today. Now I have a meter to judge our work by.

Misty also helped me with my seat. I ride in half seat just out of habit and get really tense when I'm focusing on something, which somehow makes my leg slide back. It's not pretty to watch, nor is it especially functional, so she told me to push my legs forward, like I was trying to get a chair seat. I'm not, of course, but becuase my legs are back so often, it will balance me out. She does actually recommend having my legs pretty forward when we jump and when he gets strong, which makes sense, I guess, becuase that means I won't fall over if he refuses a fence or stops suddenly. man, I am so glad to get her help- heaven knows I need it!

After that, I went to the round pen to work without stirrups. I was really tense and bouncy at the trot, which only annoyed Sammie and frustrated me, so we kept it to a walk today. Either way, it was good practice and made for a nice cool down. One of the girls I ride with was cooling her horse down too, so we went for a short trail ride and were done for the day.

We made a lot of progress today overall. Hooray!