Hairy, but handsome

Rain this morning when I looked out the window, but the forecast said clearing by late morning, and amazingly it actually did.  It warmed up nicely, too - all the way into the low 40's.  Not quite as nice as yesterday, but nothing to sneeze at, especially for February. 

Sunny practically stuffed his head into the halter, which surprised me given yesterday's ride.  But considering he'd had a good roll in the mud at some point during the night he may just have wanted a good brushing.  Thankfully, the mud was pretty much a surface thing and he cleaned up in fairly short order.

Which was good, because I wanted to try his "new" bridle on for size.

Perfect fit

New to him, that is - Ebay is a marvelous place on occasion.  After pricing quality English bridles new, I did some checking and found this one.  It's used, but in lovely condition - a full-size Crosby XL headstall sans bit & reins.  Not exactly for a song, but for what I would have spent on a mid-quality bridle I have something that's really nice and will last a long time if I take care of it.  The reins were a separate listing, but they're also Crosby, new, and a perfect match.  Although I'm pretty sure they're cob-size, that suits me (and Sunny) just fine because his neck's so short.  Paired with a spare full-cheek bit with keepers that was gathering dust in my tack box, I have a lovely bridle for showing should we actually get that far.

He's really fuzzy, but he's starting to shed.  With his sleek spring coat and a bridle path clipped, I'm thinking he'll look pretty sharp.

Photo-session wrapped, I hopped on and off we went.  Sunny was much less forward than yesterday, walking off rather than bouncing right into a trot first thing. Lower energy level or not, I stuck with the same routine as yesterday - lots of transition work, but since he settled faster we did a few more canter transitions and some two-point as well.  Another solid hour of riding - wheee!

I'm still debating what I want to do tomorrow - it's supposed to be nice again, so I could take Sunny for my lesson, or I could ride him earlier and then go have a lesson on one of Eric's.... On one hand, I'd like feedback on how Sunny's progressing.  But on the other hand riding Dancer has really helped me consistency-wise with feeling where all my body parts need to go and when.  Decisions, decisions...