Amazing day!

Yes!  Awesome, awesome horse day!  My brother played the seven games with Lyssi, which was really cute.  =P  My dad played with Furi.  My mom played with and rode Buttons.

And I...I had the most wonderful ride on Cal!  He was almost seeming like a LBE.  Lot's of curiosity, confidence, and energy!  No interest in standing still or slow things today.  Haha.

My ride was bareback today.  Need work on my independant seat and confidence in my balance without holding on to anything.  Mounted him by having him lift me up on his neck.  Wasn't graceful, but we did it!

Started out with a short pushing passenger lesson at the walk.  Then moved on to my circles that I've been focusing so hard on.  Focusing on focusing, actually.  =D  It went really well!  I was starting to get circles where I could stay in neutral the whole time, with Cal paying attention to my focus and legs and seat.  We're getting it!  Did it at the trot, too.  I wasn't nearly as good about staying in neutral there, but I'm improving every time I do it.

Circles were going so well we did some figure-8 pattern.  Walk, which was amazing!  And even trotting, which went so well I was astonished!  Did some weave pattern, which was going really well at the walk.  Tried trotting a bit, but the cones were a little close to each other.

Finished with some follow the rail and corners game at walk and trot.  (Switched between the two.)  Hardest game yet.  Some of his unconfidence showed through here, but consistency helped.  And using the corners game helped, too.  I did follow the rail at the trot and he was not trotting very nicely, so I stayed on it until he relaxed and got loads of licking and chewing when we stopped.

Getting really close to getting four feet on the pedestal while riding, too!  He was walking over it today, pausing for a nanosecond with four feet up there.  Think I need to help him feel a bit more confident about it on the ground, and I think I wasn't asking soft enough when I rode.

Yay!  <3