Pics from Dressage

OK, so the title says pics but I'm only putting one up, of my superstar little girl Tess. She was so fabulous :P
I know that I look abnormally large on her, and my legs are WAAAAAY to long, but thankfully I'm not growing anymore and I'm quite thin, so she can support me yet :)

This morning I went for a hack on Chance, the (fairly) new boy. Despite some stories I've heard about him, he was great. We didn't canter because we had a new client with us, but he trotted along quite happily behind Smarts and Phurts. We saw about three other horses, it was so busy!
Chance is a lovely horse to ride because you don't have to constantly remind him to go forward. His canter really allows you to concentrate on your position and aids, rather than kicking him. However, I don't think I ride him particularly well - I'm used to riding tiny ponies who either dart everywhere in a fright or ones who hardly move at all. Sitting on an almost perfect horse is a bit of a culture shock :P
Also, as much as I would like to ride more perfect ponies to improve my riding, I'm nearly always put on a slightly more wacko pony. This is probably because I once foolishly declared I would ride anything that was available, so I'm put on the ponies which run into walls/eat people/kill other horses etc. And not just at my stables. Wherever I go, I get the warning, 'Now be careful, he/she can get a bit silly'.
Maybe I just have that face.
It's nice to be trusted with some odd ponies.I think (very self presumptious here)that I can manage most spooking, except that one a couple of weeks ago when I came of Ada. But she was being a complete chicken and was broncing down the long side and none of us had stirrups and there was a kid in the field with a massive inflatable red ball.
Yeah, except for that.

And perfect horses can get a bit...dare I say it...boring? Where's the fun in a horse having a good canter in the park by doing collected canter with perfectly precise footfalls. Sometimes a good happy buck is just good happy fun.

Anyway, I'm ranting. Back to Chance.

He's got a really slow walk, but you don't realise it. This is because he's so active underneath you, but puts all his energy into his steps instead of moving forward. In my first lesson on him, I tried making him a bit more extended to catch up with Sienna, but there's a certain point where he has to break into trot or slow down :) Very cute.
He has a lovely trot and is very vocal. He squeals and grunts and whinnys and neighs all the time.
All the other horses join in cause they think he means that dinner's ready.
His canter's gorgeous too. Not really very forward, but you can make it faster. And he stays on the track!!!!
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:o
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:)
TLCx