Bearito!

So I got to ride Bearito today... and he's *fun*. He's one of those horses that is very responsive and smart, and tests his rider a bit. He's a pony, bigger than Bella but smaller than Stjarni. Riding him is something like riding a smarter version of Minnie. Getting him to *slow down* is the biggest challenge.

He did nip me once while I was tacking him up, and got bopped on the nose. He definitely has attitude. We also had to scramble a little to find a saddle for him, because his regular saddle is *tiny*, a good size for a child, not a woman with 40-inch-plus hips.

Next week I will be the "leader" for cantering. The other women in the class are mostly riding slowish horses (Bearito is much smaller, but faster than any of them) and Susan says having Bearito scampering into a canter ahead of them might help them. It's pretty clear that I'm the strongest rider in the class, and that's just fine with me. Bearito and I did not canter today because the horses had all had rabies shots today and were a bit sluggish, and Bearito wore himself out before we had a chance.

I may be slightly too heavy for him, though. Hm, would I lose weight for a pony?

more on Bearito, again.

Because Bearito's small, he gets ridden by a lot of kids, who let him get away with stuff he shouldn't. He's the sort of pony who could easily become unrideable. Susan told me that he has several regular adult riders and that helps keep him in line. Once again, I am happy that she listened to me about wanting a more "forward" horse. I felt like I could pay more attention to my own skills (except when I needed to slow him down!) I got mad props for keeping him on the bit and pretty, and being kind to his little pony mouth.

In the "I shouldn't do this, but..." category, though I am probably the strongest rider in the class, I am also, well, the fattest. One of the other women runs at least 5 miles a day, and she and one of the other two are quite slender. I am *not* in good shape. The first few rounds of posting trot left me achy. Oddly enough, though, the second, which was a series of very large figure 8s, did not. It's possible that the transitions in direction kept me more relaxed and not "setting" into a particular way of riding. It was odd to be the only person in the class who could consistently get a good round figure 8 (riding between two poles in the middle, which Susans started at 10 feet apart and moved gradually down to four feet apart.) My ankles are getting a bit stronger, or I am learning to ignore the pain. Or both.

We also did a fair amount of riding in two-point (jumping) position, which I found a bit more difficult to sustain for any length of time. This class is heading towards very basic preparation for jumping.