Thoughts From Bareback Winter: V.2.0

This is our life now.

What's been happening up on The Hill, you ask?

Nothin' much, cupcake.

Between the insanity that is Christmas, New Years, and somehow like five of my husband's family members' birthdays, plus traveling to visit friends, there has not been much going on in the riding department lately. D-Money has had way more time off than I'd like, and I'm trying not to get too twitchy about it. We haven't schooled in an arena or had a lesson since before Christmas, and the footing at home is generally horrible and a little treacherous. It's getting desperate around here.

Also, it's dark.

But I've been getting out to the barn and "riding" at least 3 days a week despite it all, and have been continuing to ride bareback every time.

Also my life.

I also started training Dino to go in a neck rope, which I thought would be fairly easy considering how well he's been stopping and turning off my seat. I was proven wrong when Dino took complete advantage of the situation and dove down to eat grass every time I dropped the reins and picked up the neck rope. It didn't matter if I had been holding zero contact with just my pinky fingers on the buckle of the reins, the SECOND I dropped the reins to switch over to the neck rope, he knew, and would just do whatever he wanted.

I may need to revisit my training plan. Or find a way to not ride on an edible surface.

MOAR PONY CRACK PLZKTHXBAI

In any case, during my occasional mostly-walk rides I HAVE actually figured some things out! Those things are as follows:

• I've been working on my seat and leg aids for bending, and realized that I was probably over-focusing on the inside aids. If I think more "outside hip back" instead of "connect with the inside seatbone", I stay straighter and can ask for the bend a heck of a lot more effectively, and without collapsing my upper body to the inside. Win! 
• A big part of why Dino is so much more forward and sharp off of my leg and seat when I ride bareback is probably because my leg is OFF and my seat is in NEUTRAL unless I'm actively asking for something. Due to my height and his conformation, when I ride bareback my legs make no contact below the knee unless I purposefully put them against my pony's sides. I think this understanding will have HUGE implications in our work with the saddle if I can remember to keep my leg OFF and my seat in NEUTRAL when Dino is going forward! I'm definitely looking forward to experimenting more with this idea. 
• Austen helped me figure out how to ride up hills! If I keep Dino very very round, keep my seat tucked under me, and my upper body perfectly vertical, I can stay 100% balanced in trot and canter up steep hills. The trick is being able to hold this all together for more than short stretch, which takes more ab strength than I have right now. Though I HAVE gotten stronger and can canter a lot longer than I was able to when I first started this silly bareback thing, so that's exciting. 
• I'm still working on figuring out appropriate contact/connection/how to use my hands/you'd think I'd have an understanding of this by now, but the days I ride with a bit I'm finding that I need to be a lot lighter and more giving with my elbows than I want to be. The line between "enough contact" and "too much contact" is getting very fine these days. And, surprising to no one, short reins help. A lot. 

How we roll in wintertime.

So, even though the weather sucks and it's dark too early and I am way too busy with adult things, I've been trying really hard to keep my pony as fit as I can and still make some kind of progress. And I think we're doing okay.