Roan goes to a clinic.

Today the Roanie pony and I drove up to Nani Lio farm to ride with 4* rider Bobby Meyerhoff. It was so much fun, as riding with Bobby always is. I was worried that with Roanies graceless canter we wouldn't be able to do too much, however, Bobby didn't see the canter as a problem at all and we immediately went to work on adjusting our stride length in between fences. This is where her bumbling lack of balance caused us problems. We were marvelous at removing strides and taking off from appalling flyers but adding strides proved to be as challenging as balancing a complex chemical equation. For the life of us we could not shorten that canter stride enough to add a sixth stride in a five stride line. To add to the challenge Bobby also wanted me to work on my position. In his words "your riding is effective, but it could be prettier." He wanted me to practice keeping my hands in one position and instead of opening my rein to try to adjust my horses drift to either side of the fence. Short reins, small adjustments, hands up my horses neck. I need to stop looking like one of those wacky waving inflatable arm dudes that worthlessly attempt to entice wary shoppers into a store.

All in all, it was a wonderfully productive day, I learned so much and have a ton of things to work on. I was so proud of Roanie who hopped off the trailer and went right to work. It was her first time being asked to adjust her stride and her first time having me ask her to not take off from a long spot (both her and I are notorious for taking flyers.) I'm so thankful for Bobby taking the time to do a clinic and for him being so patient as Roanie and I pulled down fences, stumbled around the arena, and missed takeoff spot after takeoff spot.

Our group: Candace and Hattie, Leah and Joie, and me and Roanie.

Plus, there was food! We got to bring our ponies to the party :)