Jenny Craig, new stirrups and a fabulous ride

so I finally wrote up a 'first step' training schedule for ms Evy, and I'd say it's going to be pretty successful. 

ambitious? yes. do-able? certainly. especially after today's ride (which I'll go into more detail about later) I definitely think this will be a successful plan. I think it's consist and yet won't be too boring after a second week. I think it'll really build up her balance, confidence and frame which is what it's all about! I'm anticipating we'll do this for 3-4 weeks or so. but who knows? after tonight's ride it might be shorter. :) 

anyways. tonight was the first time in the new saddle and new stirrups I bought, and it was SOOO nice. I felt more secure than I did in BO/owner's dressage saddle    plus E was moving really nice in it. so first I lunged her a bit. i wanted to see how she was moving today and how she look in the saddle, plus I like working her in side reins before I ride to get her into a nice frame before we start. so after we got some sillies out she began workin nicely so I decided to hop on. we had only one ground pole on the ground because last time I worked her with 4 she struggled, so I'm gonna start small (even very small) then move up later. anyways. so I hopped on and we did a lot of turns and switching directions and she did pretty perfect. alright. so then I have her start walking over the little pole. no problem. so then I decide to try trotting her. holy great. good frame, mostly balanced (except for the corners), super nice and not fast, and even listened when I wanted to slow down. fabulous. we realy need to work on actually stopping though. but tonight was great. and I love my new saddle. 

so yeah. boring night. I need to buy leather conditioner. any recommendations? 

thanks for reading!!

Lauren + Evy