Life is full of Opportunities

Ya know our most recent trail ride where we visited a friend? Well, I keep forgetting to tell you what Aleythia and I learned.
I learned how to keep my feet under me when she's trotting so that I can have better balance in the saddle. I learned how to ride Misstack's canter without my back protesting.
Aleythia pretty much learned the same thing. But her problem was that her saddle would always slip. When you trot/canter for an hour and a half you figure these things out.
I have come to realize that I do not have the best balance... I intend to remedy that this winter by riding without stirrups and riding bareback. Maybe I'll do it more than that too. Riding bareback is fun!
I am excited for Sunday. Not only will I get to go to church and also see my awesome youth group, but I have gotten an offer from a fellow horse person in my church, HM. HM has offered to give Aleythia and I a chance to experience english riding.  That will be awesome! We do have a Saddlebred that does saddle seat, but I would love to have a teacher. HM's discipline is jumping.
What I hope to learn from her is communicating with your horse through your legs and jumping. I am totally ignorant and don't know if jumpers use leg control or any other control that doesn't require you to use the reins. I want to say that they do, because well, why wouldn't they? But I use leg pressure very little. Which is probably not a good thing.

I longed all the fillies except Toffy. With longing I am working on getting them confident at the walk and trot and making it an actual circle. We had different plans for Toffy. We put a bit in her mouth. We have done this once before, so it didn't take her long to stop chewing it. She let us put it on without complaint and even opened her mouth the second time we put it on, without my help. Smart cookie she is.
And then just because Coffie was right there we caught her again and put the bit in her mouth. We actually didn't use a bridle. We took a snaffle bit, tied it to the halter with twine string and then put it on.
Once Coffie figured out that she couldn't swallow it, she was totally fine. We did take it on and off because she kept trying to avoid the bit. So we did it over and over until she didn't try to avoid the bit. We don't want that to become a habit.
Did I mention that Coffie has a really pretty trot? It's like Ana's when she decides that it's okay to go slow. All floaty and cool.