Just a nice evening ride

Went out to ride tonight. Getting there later in the day is definitely a better idea, even if I'm leaving as it gets dark. It's such a better temperature! And Kieran seemed to deal with it better too. Though he was covered in dirt and sweat (so mud, basically) when I went to get him from his field today:





[i]That[/i] was fun to clean up (I cheated and gave him a foamy bath).

Here's some screencaps from the ride...actual videos are below:


HOW CUTE IS HE? :)


My elbows, they suck.


Muscles!






Didn't do too many of these, just put them in to give him something interesting to do. It's two ground poles leading in to the cavaletti, spaced about twelve of my (size 9) feet apart.











Videos aren't terribly exciting because I didn't have anyone there to help me out so I just set the camera on a post and let it record while I rode.



After we warmed up. This part of the ride I did in spurs (don't usually use them), to see if how he went with them. Ended up taking them off because I was worried too much about jabbing him in the sides.


Asked him for a simple change. Haven't done too much of this with him.


Then the cavaletti. First time through we trotted, second time through we cantered.

After we were done, the BO was out there with her daughter (the girl who thinks Kieran is amazing. She also thinks he's a Gypsy Vanner and I haven't had the heart to correct her) and a friend. She asked if Kieran could give the daughter a pony ride...which he did, about fifty feet. :) Girl was like, "I rode a Gypsy Vanner!" *sigh* ;)

Oh yeah, and here's the sunset:

Pony Rides!

A friend of mine flew in from Texas yesterday and I ended up dragging her to the barn with me for my lesson. Poor thing isn't used to the cold, but she thinks Kieran is pretty.

Yesterday's lesson was a lot more about working on Kieran than working on me. Lots of circles, weaving through cones, and trotting over poles. And then, with just a few minutes to go, Christina says, "are your legs tired yet?" and I say, "almost" and she says, "well if they're not tired yet, I want you to drop your stirrups."

Apparently, the look on my face was priceless.

But I dropped my stirrups and did my damnedest to post without them around the ring and over the poles.

And then we were done and I asked my friend, "you want a pony ride?" So we got her (in a helmet!) and mounted up on Kieran and cooled him out (not that he even broke a sweat) walking her around the ring.

Apparently it was her first time on a horse since she was a kid and first time ever in an English saddle. And Kieran just plodded around the ring with me. (he always looks confused when I get off him and someone else gets on, LOL). :)