I Was So Excited...

..last night that I had a hard time going to sleep! WOW!! I don't think that has happened to me since I was a child. My mind was filled with the thrilling thoughts of riding Sport sidesaddle again. If I was a child, I would have been able to jump right out of bed early early this morning.... as I am not exactly that spry anymore, it took a bit of time to get myself going. I was GROGGY! It is an hour+ drive out to Bluebonnet farm from our own, so I had time to sip on a diet drink and get adjusted. By the time I arrived, I was ready. In my mind, I wanted to just ride him sideaddle from the get go, but Leslie had me ride him in the cut back saddle first. That was fine as long as afterwards I could retack him to my preference. Sport was a bit of a pill today. He was wearing a martingale that was too large and took advantage of it by going over the bit and showing me how strong he is. He does not have a mean bone in his body, so no worries, but when I was asking him to slow gait and he wanted to trot....well, there was little I could do to fix it..until that is, we switched out his equipment. Wow what a differece. Leslie even jumped on him to make sure. With a correct size martingale on him, it gave him 2 very different and very clear signals with the bit, depending on which rein I was 'tweeking' and off to the slow gait we went. Since Leslie has only riden aside once, when I got her to get on Jose a few months ago, she seems reluctant to instruct me while I ride aside. She certainly could and I plan on encouraging her to do so very soon, but sidesaddle seems so foreign to her. Maybe she does not realize that she could almost as easliy guide me through it, subsituting the cane aid for my right leg. I mounted Sport and tightened the girth. He stood like a statue. We walked off. I was going to just walk and trot him. He had had a good workout before and even though he had been cooled down a bit before being retacked up, I wanted to be kind to him...and yet still satisfy my goal, to ride him aside and use the cane. I have several riding canes, most with a shaft of bamboo. The one I use for practice is well..... VERY USED. It is so used, that the bottom cap came off. Shortly after that happened, the bottom started to fray. Now, when I use it, it makes a rattling noise. I eased him into the trot and my heart started to flutter with excitement! I cannot explain it, but I could trot him for miles before getting really tired. I LOVE THAT!!! It was such a worry for me in larger shows. The more horses and the bigger the show ring, the longer you have to trot...and trot BIG. After a couple of rounds, I let him walk for a few minutes. Then I spread my hands apart, leaned back, and tried to replicate the fluttering leg movements with my left leg and my right cane. YEAH!! I was able to not only easily get him into the slow gait, but we worked our way around the corners with ease also. The corners is the place where a horse will break gait when slow gaiting. The canter depart still needs work. This is one sidesaddle riding area that I need more instruction on with Sport. It is all about communication. Sandy is still away. She is up North with a few customers competing at some very prestigeous shows. I cannot wait for her to get home so she can see what we have been up to. Last weekend, I sent her a text that said,"Don't Faint!" Just to be silly, I made her wait about 4 minutes before I sent the next text about the ride. She sounded thrilled. Hurry Home Sandy!!!