DAY 93

Today was a better day and a very busy one at that, even though I rode the grey for my lesson (it was much better today) I then got to ride Little Banana. Now I don't like to say bad things about people, but the only reason why I rode Little Banana, was beacuse Laura had a bad lesson on him. Well it started out really good, but I guess she just got tired or something, becuse she started get sloppy, and when giving the commands to L.B. it wasn't a strong "I want you to do this now" command, it was more " please do this,....... but only if you want" type of commands. So Juan kind of got angry (actually more just a little) and had me get on and ride L.B. so he would know that he can't get away with these things and also so he wouldn't get sloppy and not improve in his training. Well I think I got more of a lesson on Little Banana then on the grey. Before I got to my lesson though we got a little suprise, and I mean little, Jaun's 1o yr old son, Jaun, jr. was getting a new pony, since he had out grown his other and he was now sharing with his sister and her pony. We all then spent an hour or so taking the pony to it's new stall and sorting out all the things that came with him. He had just come from an 8 day trip from some where in England. After cooing over the pony we got back to the lessons. THIS IS WERE I MEAN A BUSY DAY. Besides doing all the stuff I have been doing all week I also did some the counter-canter (The counter canter is a balancing movement where the rider deliberately makes the horsecanter with the outside foreleg leading. The horse is positioned to the side of the leading leg.), also some Serpentines (series of equal curves fom one line of the center line to the other,changing direction of the turn each time the horse passes over the center line. while traveling across the length of the ring.), a Volte (circle of 6 meters diameter), a Rein back (backward movement in which the hooves are raised and set down almost simutlaneously by diagonal pairs.), Passage (A trot in which the phrase of support of one diagonal pair of legs is prolonged while there is a hesitation in the forward travel of the other diagonal pair of legs, giving a floating, hovering impression. Also called "hovering trot.") and a little bit of a Piaffe (a movement where the horse is highly collected and the legs move up and down in diagonal pairs, like a trot, while the horse does not move forward. The center of gravity of the horse during piaffe should be more towards the hind end, with the front of the horse highly mobile and light in the hand.) My lesson on Little Banana was probably the best non-jumping lesson of my enitre life, well so far. Today though, Jeri and I went to the tack shop near the riding center, before going back into town and the hotel.