SOLD!

I have always thought that if you go into something with lower expectations you are more likely to be blown away. Now, this way of thinking can be sad if you think of everything this way but in this case? Its great! After getting off work I rushed home to check my front porch for my new Micklem bridle that I was told would be here today (and it was!) so I could take it up to the barn with me for my lesson. Part of me thought "why switch bridles for our lesson if I dont know how he will go in it, etc" but I figured as long as it fit him good it would be fine.

Like a glove!

Let me start by saying I didnt get this bridle because it is some miracle bridle and I thought it would make my horse go around nicer etc. He is a really agreeable and easy guy. Doesnt put up a fight with anything dealing with his current bridle but I figured if this bridle is supposed to be made by looking at the anatomy of the horses head what can it hurt right (especially when you get a basically new one on Ebay for 125!)? Even just the thought that this bridle would be putting less pressure on bad places would make me feel better, but I got a lot more than that!

Not only is he super adorable in it but he genuinely seems to like it better. By the end of our lesson he was foamier then he has ever been! We have (okay, I have) been seriously slacking in our dressage program recently. Like seriously. After we got warmed up and got him engine going a little more we got some of the best feeling trot/canter work I have felt. He was so much lighter in the bridle and more willing to carry himself, once I rode him to that point of course, and boy did it feel nice. We spent that better part of the beginning of our lesson working on getting him forward and loose. Because he is so steady and good I actually let him get away with a lot. He gets me sucked into thinking we are going around nicer than we really are being he puts his head down and just goes along without any complaints. Key points from tonight are that I need to ride him much more forward on much more contact while keeping him straighter. He really sucks back when I take the contact up because he has tricked me into thinking that if I have contact he cant go forward because he cant just fall on his forehand like he can when my reins are longer and he isnt as put together. It was really good for me to feel just how forward and how much contact she wants me to take up on him because what I have previously thought was forward doesnt have anything on what we actually need!

I got some great exercises to work on with him where I could really feel us go from strung out flat canter to a nice bouncier and straighter. Then at the end, after schooling some leg yield to shoulder ins, we got to do some travers and a baby half pass! How cool is that! I was already leaving my lessons feeling really great about when we worked on and what we accomplished but that was just the icing on the cake. I have never ridden a half pass and the feeling of starting it on my own horse was honestly one of the best feelings I have had with him! He has taken me further then I ever thought he would and I cant help but feel SO incredibly blessed to be able to call him mine. Love my little black and white pony :)

Jumping gets me excited for our eventing season, and it is of course super fun, but there is something about a great dressage lesson that really motivates me and gets me really enjoying riding my horse every day. I love it!