Today I purposely put Zoe 2nd in the trail order (or last since there was only the 2 of us). I wanted to see how she was going to do with a faster horse in front. Skippy, the other horse, is usually faster. Today she had her fast moments but mostly went along at a "medium" speed. Zoe did fine being in the back no matter what speed Skippy was at.
Towards the end of the ride Zoe took front. It was a good chance to have my equitation checked by the back rider. This can be interesting. Today it turned out really good. I usually lean to the right in my saddle and I seem to be constantly shifting my weight to the left and pushing down in my left stirrup to "even" myself out. Jim's good at telling me when I'm off center. But today I discovered something else. When I ride with all my reins in one hand they always end up in my left hand, therefore my left shoulder is shifted ahead of my right shoulder, therefore my weight is shifted to the right side of my body, therefore I tend to lean to the right when I ride. So when I put all the reins in my right hand and held my left hand straight out in the air to my side I was straight in my saddle. Hmmmmm. I didn't think about my hands affecting my seat. It was nice having the back person there to evaluate the different things I would try. So for the next month I need to remember if I'm going to put all the reins in one hand to use my right hand. They say you have to practice something for 21 times to get it to be a habit. I figure a month ought to do it. I hope this will also help out any saddle fitting issues I might have. Lately Zoe has had dry spots on the left side - we will see.
Also got a picture of Kristy's igloo. I love it when rocks make shapes that look like something. I've ridden past this rock for years and never noticed that it looked like something...until Kristy said something.
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