A preponderance of ponderings

Now that I've had time to reflect and digest that mini marvel I called a hack yesterday; I'll try and write my thoughts in a semi lucid manner:

Hacking about the countryside should be fun and relaxing... right? Well for me it is also a time for experimenting. Pinto is very focussed while out hacking, always wanting to know what is over the next hill or around the next corner. It makes for very quick walking ;o) - which is Ok if you are by yourself, but if you are with other people it does mean having to stop every now and again in order for the group to catch up. It also gives my hips a rest from swinging and dipping. I don't have the most mobile lower back, and riding on a power walking coblet for hours is very wearing on my poor hips... as evidenced by my stiff backed and hipped gait today.

Normally I have to try very hard to be relaxed and ride with a long rein, but yesterday I tried more to have a consistent feeling down both reins as pinto can be very lopsided. It really doesn't help that with the bitless bridle (BB) my right rein always ends up longer than my left. I relly must measure the cross under straps to see if they have stretched, as yesterday the right rein was a good 6ins longer than my left, and it makes life a tad difficult when trying to assess rein length.

Anyway... it wasn't long before I took up what I would call a 'normal' contact with a definite equal weight in each rein. You may think this is odd, however ever since I switched to the BB I've used only a very light contact as I was told that you don't need as much contact as with a normal bit. After 6 months Pinto's musculature has deteriorated, and he has grown muscles in all the wrong places, i was all for giving up with the BB, when during my last lesson of the year (a very ebil mise en selle lesson) I had to take up a much stronger contact than usual and *bang* Pinto is powering along in a wonderful novice outline really swinging with his back end. Ever since then I've been wondering how I could replicate the feeling, but haven't really had the opportunity because I haven't schooled at all .../ digression *rolleyes*

So after lolloping along the edge of a field, every so often a foot disappearing down a rut we have to climb a nice, looooooong, steep hill. Pinto was all for trotting, but I said... "Oh, I don't think so, my lad... think of those bum muscles" at the top of the climb we break for a minute to let the other two catch up and then we have to cut up along a stubble field. For some reason I just took a stronger contact then. Myabe I was subconsciously aware that I was thinging "oooh great canter spot" and I didn't want to transmit that thought to Pinto - who knows... but I then thought "I've got it again." Pinto was reaching down into the bridle, putting some of his own tension on the reins and powering along. I was so amazed... it's not often that I ride these days without having my view blocked by a very hairy neck and a pair of ears.

So I experimented the rest of the way with this tension in the reins... Pinto was much straighter and less inclined to banana. Obviously he also found it hard work. It is the first time he has worked 'correctly' even in walk for months. by the end of the ride he had started leaning on my hands and stretching down a lot more. I did allow his to stretch occasionally, but the sneaky bugger was using these stretches to attempt to snatch a mouthful of grass too... which earned him an "OI!" and a "grrrr".

The best laugh I have had in ages came from Iris (pronounced i-ris... not eye-ris) who is Christines huuuuuuge SF gelding. When we were heading along the canter track back home he suddenly dived to the side and bit off a whole cane of corn!!! He had already been told off several times for trying to snatch at the grass when this occurred. Oh how I wish I had my camera. For a couple of hundred yards he carried this cane like a lollypop which the leafy bits almost dragging on the ground. Obviously he had a bit in and couldn't eat such a muge morsel... but he looked extremely smug.

It was just at we were 10 mins from home when the threatened thunderstorm eventually broke, and boy, was that rain cold! Thankfully it didn't last long, and I was able to untack at the yard without getting even more wet!