Disappointment

So, today I broke rank of regular schedule and went out to visit my boy Zan. =) Erica picked me up at my house after an agonizing 1 1/2 hr of waiting for her to get there. When we drove up to the barn, I noticed that the new horse - "Glory", a 20 yr old bay Arabian mare - was with Mallory and Taco on the dirt lot. Erica said it was where they started every new horse, because Mal and The Man are the gentlest horses.

Glory is stunning. She looks AMAZING for her age, and I wish I'd gotten a picture. When she would look at you, you could feel her emotions and her power. Arabians seem to be like that. Anyways, she showed off for me by trotting, cantering, and galloping around the dry lot, snaking her head and high stepping every now and then. I sat and watched her for so long, Erica told me to wipe the drool off of my face and get to work. ;) My point is, Glory is beautiful.

Lynx was settling in well. He's out with Mona and April, and he seems pretty happy. Mona didn't seem like she was too afraid of him or hated him too much - she must've found a buddy in him. Lynx's cuts from running through a fence at his old home are healing really nicely; he doesn't have any visible cuts on his sides, belly, or legs, and it's been 2 weeks. The cut on his chest looks good, too. I'm glad he's with us, and I'm excited to see his owner ride him; he's a reining horse, you know.

I went and got Zan first, taking one of Erica's lesson students with me so that she could get Pete. Before I even haltered Zan, he trotted up to me and shoved his head into my stomach, like he missed me. I rubbed his ears and haltered him, then helped the lesson  girl halter Peter. We walked up and went into the barn. I spent quite a while brushing Zan, but saddled and bridled fairly quickly. Erica told me to just walk/trot today, so that we didn't strain his leg muscle and make his muscle knot worse.

Walking around, I asked Zan to stretch down and long, so that he could make his strides long and flowing instead of short and choppy like they usually are. He seemed to accomplish that fairly quickly, so I waited until Erica told her lesson kids to trot until I did. I asked Zan for a trot and he immediately threw his head up and made it very dramatic, tripping every two steps or so. I pulled him down and messaged his withers for a minute. Erica instructed me to just walk him both ways with lots of circles, serpentines, figure-8's and walks over trot poles.

After I was done with Zan, I had 35 minutes to ride Sonny. I literally ran out to the field, threw a halter on his face (didn't even buckle it) and ran back up with Sonny trotting pleasantly beside me (gooooood boy). I picked his hooves, ran a soft brush over him, and threw my saddle on him. Yes, I had to give him a slap in the face when he kept rubbing on me and knocking me down, but other than that I bridled him easily. =)

We got outside as Erica was bringing her lesson kids inside to put Pete and April away. I walk/trot/cantered both ways, got Sonny to side pass at the trot both ways, and then let him walk until Erica told me to set up jumps. I set up two 2' jumps and two 1'10 jumps. It was nice, jumping. =)

I had a rocky start to my short jumping lesson, but hey - that's what warm-ups are for! =D After that, we were okay, other than me trying to make Sonny have energy and not get stuck around corners. Anyone who knows Sonny knows that he likes to slow down and speed up randomly, and you might find yourself yanking on his mouth or totally dropping your reins at any point in your ride.

What I learned today was that I need to focus on being able to switch from western style riding to English style riding whenever I need to. Any suggestions on how to make that easier? I constantly found myself leaning back too far, leaving my feet/legs in a terrible position, and holding my hands like 'paws', with my fingers down and the top of my hand pointing towards the sky. Help?