Lesson Day: Buddy, and are my legs ever tired!

I had company yesterday for my lesson - my mom came along, and took lots of pictures and some high def video that my laptop doesn't like.  We picked up the horse trailer and the boys on the way, all of us already sweaty at 11 AM in 90' heat.  The wind, gusting past 30 mph, kept it tolerable but the flies were sticking and biting, and it felt like storm coming in.

We arrived early at Eric's with plenty of time to get the horses out and fly spray reapplied.  I left the boys tied in the shade of the trailer, and we wandered over to watch the remainder of the lesson before mine.  One of Eric's junior riders... maybe someday I'll grow up to ride as well as she does! 

We chatted through tacking up, and then it was my turn with Buddy.   I decided to try using the Thinline halfpad on Buddy too, right under the riser pad I usually use - not sure how much good it will do, but it's at least some extra cushion and not enough thickness to make a discernible difference in terms of saddle fit/girth length.
 

No spurs required

I could really tell I'd had some time off, and not in a good way. And I discovered as I attempted to get my foot level with the stirrup to mount that I'd worn jeans with no stretch.  Stretchy is much better, especially when your pants are already sticking to you.

Yee-haw

Overall, I'd rate my riding this lesson a C+. It was a good lesson work-wise, but I was struggling to keep Buddy round and consistently rated.  On the positive side of the column, my canter transitions were felt good and were apparently some of my best yet, so at least that was something.  With the heat, I wasn't sorry to have a slightly shorter lesson than normal.  Buddy was sweaty, I was sweaty, and we were both ready for a break when we agreed that I was starting to run out of horse. 

The shade and the fans in the barn felt wonderful.  Buddy got a lukewarm rinse-down, which he thoroughly enjoyed.  I got at least my arms wet, which felt pretty darn good. 

Then it was Sunny's turn - Eric had a break between lessons for lunch, so I had the arena to myself.  I decided to go ahead and use the all-purpose saddle with the Thinline halfpad.  He's too fat to try stuffing any more padding underneath there.  

Can't you just see the enthusiasm rolling off him?

Once more into the saddle muttering at the denim stuck to me.  It wasn't until I was on that I realized I'd neglected to add spurs to my outfit, but I wasn't getting off again.  Which is why practically every picture my mom took has shows my heels rolling up into Sunny's sides.

I really want my spurs!

He was not overly energetic.  But he did find lots of things along the edges of the arena to look at.

A very scary orange cone

We did the usual warm-up stuff - bending and moving hips and shoulders in and out in each direction, small circles, some spirals at walk and trot.  Then right lead canter, which he of course nailed.  Then we reversed and tried left.

Success!

Hooray!  I'm still having to be really deliberate about setting him up for the left lead, but he's taking it.  I think he may still be anticipating it hurting, so hopefully it will get better. 

Both directions a couple of times, and that was that.  We packed up, loaded up and headed for home. 

I may have some video to post later - I can't seem to get it to load at the moment.  Maybe I'll have better luck later.