Schooling ride

Today was all about checking out what Sparkle knows as far as arena riding goes- all the basic stuff that a broke horse can do.
As promised here is the progress in her saddling; note that she is not tied solid. She has come a long way from my first attempts at saddling her !

Once in the pen I did a little groundwork on giving her hip and changing directions smoothly, that showed progress in that she only gave as much as I asked for (progress for me as well in asking as softly as possible) then it was time to ride. This time I bridled her and stepped up with no preliminary exercises.
I apologize for the pooh pile in the foreground of the video! I need to get a tractor in there and scrape the piles- that one is Drifter's stud pile.
In the video, I do a few simple exercises: lateral work, same rein serpentines, sidepassing the box, and spiral into a front crossover. All of it needs improvement, but she has the basic understanding of what I'm asking. Remember, she was not ridden in a bit for the last few years although her original training was in a snaffle, so she is dealing with reacquainting herself to that feel as well as that she hasn't been asked for this kind of work for a while . I thought she did really well, considering the distractions of a helicopter flying low overhead on it's way to hovering over cherry orchards to blow the rain off them (keeps the cherries from splitting) and Drifter banging away on a log in the adjacent pen.

Once I am happy with her work at a walk, I'll progress to a trot. Another day or two I think. Then I will need to find someone to ride with me on a local trail ride- I am really looking forward to that!

Riding day 49