First Ride

A nice day for a ride

Bacon and I had our first ride of the year last week. That was a little depressing to say out loud since it is the end of February, but between the weather and footing and my Arizona trip, this is just how it happened. Part of that difficulty is having someone there while I ride because I am not allowed to ride alone anymore (thanks evil health). I convinced our friend, Ross, to come over for an afternoon and I was so excited to climb back on my giraffe.

Trying to not ride like a clown

Part of the added excitement was using all kinds of new toys. That all entailed: new bandage liners and polos, back on track saddle pad, FUN bonnet, Premiere bridle, Ariat boots, and Success equestrian pad. Ross rushed me through the getting ready process, so as you will see in the photos, Bacon only had front wraps on.

Bend around thy leg, Bacon. Stop tilting, Alyssa.

It felt so nice to swing a leg back over the pony. We stayed mostly in the walk and worked on stretching down and out. She has been faking the stretch and instead curling in and going more on the forehand. It is definitely a work in progress (isn't everything?) but she actually had a couple of really nice stretches, especially after trotting.

Still a little curled in, but not bad for her.

We kept the trot work to fairly easy. The biggest issue I have with her is bending around my leg. I need to get her to loosen up all over and be a flexible giraffe! But every bit of it brought me some joy. I am really hoping to get some dressage lessons this year and hopefully my horse and I will be less laughable during our tests.

Yeah, she is wearing a western bit. Need to find a copper eggbutt to try!

She actually quite liked the western bit though!

After some more use, I hope to do a review on the new bridle. So far I am pretty impressed with it, especially given the price. I will probably also do a review on the Success dressage half pad and Ariat V Sport boots. And then you can tell me whether or not you think I should try to dye the tops purple...

Good girl Bacon!