New Bit

I have been having a few problems with Mya's bit. I was using a loose ring snaffle and sometimes when she was in a mood it would pull through her mouth. Honestly I think she just didn't like the bit. I figured it was time to try a new one. Just for the fun of it I decided to go searching on eBay. I'd never bought anything off eBay before and figured it might be fun. After some research elsewhere I decided on a full-cheek snaffle bit. I found an english bridle on eBay that also came with that bit. So I decided to buy that one. When it came in the mail I cleaned the bridle with saddle soap, and I boiled the bit in water just to make sure there weren't any horsey germs on it. I've read you aren't supposed to wash a bit with soap because it'll make it taste bad to the horse. Putting it in a pot of boiling water was the only way I could think of to disinfect it. (Anyone know of a better way?) Anyways I think it worked pretty well. Monday I finally had the chance to try the new bit on Mya for the first time. The change was amazing! She definitely likes this bit better. I'm glad I decided to try it. Can't wait to work with her some more with the new bit. But the weather kind of took over and I haven't been able to ride since the beginning of the week. There is a TON of snow outside. (and its absolutely gorgeous!) But it looks like we'll have to wait a couple days until we can ride again...

The Great Trot Race

Our instructor on her horse West, Me on Athena, and my friend on Night.

     Last Friday I had a riding lesson. I ride Night now regularly. What was super fun about this lesson was that I got to have a group lesson with my friend. My friend also takes lessons at this stable. Anyways when we got there , we first had to grab the horse's halters and go get them from out in the field. No one had brought them in yet that day. It was pretty muddy because all the snow we had gotten had just melted. I was having visions go myself slipping in it and falling flat on my face in the mud. But luckily I survived. Night was laying down in the field taking a nap when I got up to her. She was quite determined not to get up. Lazy horse just wanted it to be nap time. But alas I could not allow that! It was time to play! Night eventually reluctantly agreed with me. Successfully haltered! Hooray! My friend grabbed Athena. Athena, the horse she rides right now, is this huge and gorgeous horse. I mean she is just such a pretty mare. When we got the horses back up to the stable we put them in the cross-ties to groom. Which was a little more difficult than normal because of the mud. Both Athena and Night were a bit muddy. Our riding instructor told us that when we were done grooming to go ahead and put the saddle on but not the bridle. She was going to have us do ground work with the horses first. I have done quite a bit of ground work before with my horse so I had a pretty good idea of what we were doing. I think groundwork really helps to improve your horse's training. .

Then we put their bridle's on and got on. I gotta say Night is such a fun horse to ride. We started by warming up. But then we did a fun exercise. Our instructor told us first to get the horses to do the biggest, fastest walk they could without trotting. I think Night and I won that division.  I'm pretty sure Athena only has one speed at the walk. Slow. Then said instructor had us get our horse to do the slowest walk possible. Athena dominated. We lost. After that we moved up to a posting trot. At first for a bit we just trotted and tried to keep and equal distance between the two horses trotting around the arena. My friend and Athena were the leader and supposed to set the pace. Then Night and I would try to match that pace. On a side note Athena has a really pretty trot. Then our instructor had us do the same exercise we did at the walk only this time at the trot. It was so much fun! We had the most hilarious trot race! Night is like half the size of Athena, so naturally Athena has the bigger, faster trot. But on one lap Night and I took em. I was was like come on Night was can beat them! Which we did. My little Arab's legs were just flying! Of course ask my friend and she will tell you she won the other five laps. Which in all fairness she did. But hey for my little horse to beat her giant horse in one lap that was an accomplishment! Anyways I was having a great time.

 Then to finish our lesson and to cool the horses down we decided to switch horses. So I rode Athena at a walk for the cool down. I enjoyed that. I felt like I was on a knight's charger and ready to have a jousting competition. (I'm not sure Athena thought that was a great idea...) All together it was a super fun lesson and a great day.

Winter Riding

     I have really been trying to work with Mya a lot lately. I want to get her in shape. The plan is to take her to a few local shows this summer. I want to compete in the English divisions. Now my goal isn't to win. No, our goal is to just get through a class without something crazy happening. I have never showed her before so I have not idea what will happen. So, yes, that is why we are really practicing. (even if it has been freezing cold) We've been doing a lot of pole work and things like bending. I think Mya has improved a lot. She seems like a much more willing horse now, and not nearly as crazy as she has been sometimes. (she really only gets crazy when she hasn't been ridden in over 3 weeks) Regular riding has turned her into a great English mount.