Gem online and riding Tina out

The weather is gorgeous and the air is breezy and I got a few hours with horses tonight. I started with Tina. I've been meaning to video tape our progress and I've done a terrible job of it. Today, Chrissy was willing to help me out by playing camera man and I wanted to start riding Tina in my english saddle. Perfect - time to get it done.

So, I tacked her up and started on the ground. I got video footage of the ground work and the riding. I'll post asap - need to edit and upload. Our riding session went well. She felt great in my english saddle and it fits her nicely. Her back is so muscled and level that no adjustments to the fit were needed. She looks so handsome in english tack, too. I decided to stay in the rope halter today as we were trying a new saddle and she's more accustomed to the rope hack than the bit still. It made sense to me to have her feel the new saddle and not add more bit training in this session.

After riding in the arena, Tina and I went out of the arena and played with the obstacles mounted. This was a 2nd time doing the playground mounted. I was curious how she would feel if I pointed her out towards the trail. Tina was so forward and ready to go on an adventure!!

I really would have loved to take her out because she wanted to, but I just felt like doing that alone the first time would be a mistake. So I turned her around and went back to the barn. Surprisingly, she was pulling to go back "out". We went again, a ways down the driveway and then again I convinced myself that her first mounted trail ride needs a buddy. When I ride her again tomorrow, if she's willing to go further, then we'll go. Amazing.

I had about 30 mins left before date night with my sons, so I decided to build some ground work with Gem. He's been doing great and our groundwork is progessing nicely on the 45'. He's more and more engaged and I'm trying to do things faster and be more interesting for him. We worked a little on trailer loading and sideways. I wish I'd had time to ride - our partnership was at a great place and I bet we would have had a great riding session.

A fun night with 2 awesome horses.