Lucky

Yesterday was amazing! The weather was beautiful: around 75 degrees, sunny, and a breeze. We got the shirts for Parelli - Ohio! figured out and found out they would be on time for Equine Affaire! Great news! On top of all that, Sonny and I had a wonderful ride, and it was outside for the first time this year!

I warmed up inside and he was a little slow going. I practiced what I learned from Laura and set higher expectations of him. His sideways was much quicker and more responsive today! He gave me a lot of good faces online, which always makes me happy!

We moved on to riding outside. The good thing about the outdoor is that the railing is smooth, contrary to the big posts that jut out in the indoor. This gave us a steady track to follow rather than weaving around in the indoor while trying to follow the rail. I was actually really shocked by how well Sonny did follow the rail. He is so bad about it inside and was so great outside. Occasionally he would fall into the inside but didn't take much to get him back on track. That makes me think that I am more of the problem when following the rail in the indoor than him. Oops!

That is what we call 'Bareback Butt'!! ;)

Understandably, he was a bit distracted being outside with the wind blowing and a stallion hanging out on the fence line. To get him focused I decided to play with the cloverleaf pattern for the first time. Because of the way the indoor is set up (the size and the posts along the side), I have always been too nervous to try the pattern. It actually ended up going much better than I thought it would! Starting the pattern was a bit rough; we were all over the arena going fast then slow and everything in-between. I remember Pat (in a savvy club DVD) mentioning that you want to make X (the very center of the arena) the sweet spot. Therefore every time we hit X I let him rest. My clever little LBI caught on so quick! Before I knew it, not only was he following the rail and staying pretty straight, he was listening to my aids and putting in effort to get to the center! He definitely understood the pattern because he would stay in the rail until I turned him off towards the center. Awesome!

After our lesson Tuesday and our ride yesterday, I am definitely becoming more confident with freestyle! I am excited to continue to play with it outside and to be moving towards my green sting! It is not just the four leaf clover [pattern] that is lucky, I am pretty darn lucky to have such a wonderful partner!

My lucky charm.