It's not just any rider that can appreciate a chestnut mare. Certainly not. I have mentioned that most of the girls at the farm are terrified of riding Kiki...it's not an exaggeration. Many of the girls have seen her progress over the last few months and are still not willing to get on. But Grace, when given the choice between Kiki and another fantastic school horse, jumped at the chance. I found out later that Kiki has a little fan club. One of the girls who trailers in her beautiful bay mare has been more or less begging to ride her, and another little girl who has ridden in a few lessons with Kiki and I has also asked about riding her! Ha!
I was so excited about Grace riding her and if I am being honest there was just the slightest twinge of jealousy, but I think it came from a good place. I got there to help Grace with her tack and routine and when B left to run to the house Grace asked me what the deal was with Kiki. I gave her a rundown of what to expect and how she rides, but I knew she'd be fine. I helped her lunge her for a few minutes on each side, and then she got on. Kiki marched forward (as I suspected she would -- I had warned Grace to keep her legs off her for the first few minutes). She looked fantastic. Getting to see her from the ground with a rider who is similar to me was completely helpful. Her trot has improved so much in the last couple of weeks and it was so nice to see her moving freely, her back swinging and her little toes flipping out. She was reaching for contact and not relying on her forehand to drag herself around. They did a little canter in each direction and I was really proud of her for making a nice transition on her left lead. Grace did a fantastic job of not "chasing" her into the canter -- which I think is really important with a green horse. The switched to the right which was a bit of a disaster, but Grace stuck with her. I think she was worried about how rough she could be with her, but once she figured that part out she really rode her. At one point they picked up the right lead and cantered on, Kiki started twisting her body and nearly took out a jump standard, then hopped over a cavaletti unintentionally and a few ground poles...oops. They regrouped and worked on the transition a few more times. It was refreshing to see that Grace wasn't just going to get on and make it look easy. I was really concerned that my riding was holding her back. It's not that I wanted her to struggle, I think I just needed confirmation of where Kiki is and what to expect from her.
They started doing some work over poles and Grace couldn't believe how Kiki bounced over them, she thought they were cantering at one point! I guess all our pole work has been helping! Then they set up some small cross rails and Kiki sort of threw herself over them the first few times. They got a little bigger and she started trying to get out of it, but Grace got right after her. Then, at one point she came over the poles and stopped completely in front of the jump and fell onto her knees (all in slow motion) hit the cross rails and knocked down everything, even the standards. She got up fine and Grace laid into her. Don't you know she came back through and pulled her knees up to her chin. Silly girl. I have never met a horse that tries so hard to get out of work! She's not out of shape anymore, but she IS fat (not sure if that makes sense), so I think she tries to take the easy way out. They did lots of passes over that jump and then added a little oxer. She was still trying to be goofy, but she was jumping really nice. Knees up and even, cantering away after the fences. Good Girl!
I had been doing lots of little exercises thanks to my new books that I think have really been helping her. She seems to really like to jump, once she figures out what's expected of her.
All in all, I was really proud of her. I am pretty sure I was just beaming the whole time. Grace and I recapped when she got off and she said she just LOVED her! YAY! We are going to try to work out something where she rides her once or twice a week too! Apparently Grace used to have a chestnut pony named Jersey that rode like a smaller version of Kiki. I really feel like she rides like a pony and that's part of why I like her so much. You have to really RIDE her, or she takes advantage. I am so glad that she didn't scare or annoy Grace!
I can't wait to ride her this weekend. I think I want to set up a grid for her to work on and definitely focus on canter departs. The transition work we've been doing has really help strengthen her hind end, and she's starting to really step under herself.
I feel really encouraged by her progress!
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