first ride

First ride today! (if you consider a walk to be a ride). Put the jumping saddle on Silvi, which she was fine with and then grabbed a bridle for her - she didn't really want to open her mouth for the bit and once I put the bridle on it did take her a while to mouth the bit and feel comfortable with it. Then led her around and she seemed pretty settled, so I took her into the yard and had Swifty hold her while I lay across her back, she was a bit titchy about it for a few minutes but quickly settled once she realised that the person who was normally standing on the ground had now somehow got on her back. Then I swung my leg over and sat on her for a little and then walked her in both directions around the yard-


She was really good in the yard, but it's quite small, so I wanted to try her in the round pen. I decided the best way to get her there was just to ride her out there. She behaved really well and had good steering.


I was super impressed with her in the round pen. She was close to her paddock friend, Missy, and yet didn't call out to her or get distracted by her at all. She didn't mind the big puddles in the pen either. After a bit more walking around I decided it was probably enough for the day for her and walked her back to the stables - she had to be encouraged to go back onto the concrete but was in general very well behaved and not stressed at all. Very happy with her so gave her a big feed and popped her back in her paddock.