been around and everywhere

So I've basically been lost in the land of ponies lately. Well. Ponies and airplanes, if we're being honest haha. I'm on the road for most of this second half of the month. But when I *do* make it to the barn, it's all ponies all the time!

sometimes we do day trips to chicago tho. fuzzy blurry photo proof lol

It was HOT out last weekend (and will continue to be so through this weekend, blargh), so I went to the early early lesson at OF. Made even more convenient by asking to ride one of their schoolies again.

Noel says it's too hot and too early. can't pony.

Actually - I gotta admit, there's something to be said for acting the true amateur and just showing up to an already-saddled horse vs packing the trailers and hauling over and everything involved in that.

Obviously I believe there's more to riding than getting in and out of the saddle, and all the grooming and tacking and non-saddle time with horses is valuable and important to me... but damn. It's NICE to just show up and go, then pass the horse back over and leave afterward haha. (even if it was just to go back to Isabel's barn and do all the chores there... womp!)

Noel ears!

Anyway the lesson wasn't particularly different from when I rode this pony a couple weeks ago. Probably bc she's a basically finished pony (well, as finished as a pony mare can ever get haha) and you know what you're gonna get with her.

touching noses with her not-a-baby-anymore baby Nikki, another fancy fun schoolie at OF

She perhaps started off a little stiffer and tried again to say that she did not, in fact, know how to work.  And maybe even got a little mad lol. But not resistant.

no more pony pics, so take some boats in bangor!

But despite being mad that she had to work in the heat, she wasn't actually guarded. There's maybe some resistance in there, but it doesn't seem defensive or pissy or anything. Legitimately just stiffness. Like she's just totally honestly out of the habit of working. But will put forth the effort when she realizes I won't stop asking.

ducks are on the move!

The jumping was basically identical to my last ride with her. Except we maybe got there a little faster since I knew what to expect and how to go with her. We made our way through a couple grids, a few single jumps in warm up, a couple bending lines... A fun roll back where I actually got her to land the lead on landing.

Ya know. Just some basic, straight forward jumping. Exactly the type of jumping I need to keep building that confidence again.

the thing is legitimately making wake. must get bread crumbs!!!

Trainer P was pleased with the pony too. She's told me a lot about Noel's extreme one-sidedness and propensity for diving left then jumping right, with a not insignificant twist over the fences. I don't seem to notice it much tho, and actually down the grid (a one to two stride) Noel stayed quite straight (at least after the first fence haha).

P thinks it's bc she's been ridden almost exclusively by kids who couldn't truly get their legs down on her. Whereas, thanks to Dan lessons, my legs are basically on all the time, always and forever. So even if I'm not thinking specifically about correcting the drift (which I never really accomplished with Izzy either), Noel responded by straightening out anyway. She's just a good kinda pony like that.

ducks and ducklings!

We called it an early day all the same tho bc. Damn. It was hot. Fun tho, she's a good pony and it does me worlds of good to just get out there and bop around, focusing on myself and expecting the pony to hop to it (literally).

With my somewhat busy schedule these past and future couple weeks, Isabel has mostly been chillin in the field. Not the worst thing in the world for her. It's not like she's gonna forget anything, but maybe the break will be good for her.

dancing ducks lol

It does mean, tho, that she's not really in a state of fitness for any heavy-hitting lessons. The intensity of a Dan or dressage trainer C lesson doesn't quite seem fair for a pasture puff, esp if it ends up being her only ride a week.

So at least for the foreseeable future, I'm exploring other options to continue lessons that work on and improve me, while letting Izzy off the hook. And continuing the pony theme, I managed to have a little bit of a silly fun time over at C's last weekend too with our favorite little Welsh monster, Krimpet. Post to come haha.

Have you ever been in a position where you were seeking out different horses for lessons? Why? And how did you fill the gap - friends' horses? Schoolies? And did you love it? Or get sick of it and quickly switch back to your own horse?