It's a Go!

I loved Midnight! His owner is really nice (though you never know, nice can sometimes turn to crazy-pants) and it seems like he can teach me a lot about dressage.

She says he does half-pass, shoulder in, and a bunch of other things I don't know how to do yet, so that's icing on the cake for later on. Right off the bat I could see that he is very willing, but he makes you work. If you don't ride correctly, he won't raise his back and use himself correctly, but he does have a solid three comfortable gaits that he will maintain without nagging--very different from my lazy therapeutic horses. I don't feel like I rode that well since I was nervous--I was getting into a bad hunter crouch at times, and I think I could have gotten a better result if I had more leg and was a little ligher in my hand (but isn't that always the story?). We did have several moments of reeeeeallllly nice trot strides. I took the lease agreement home to look over with my trainer sometime this week.

I also tried jumping him over a little X--he did great. I haven't jumped for several months though and my release has gotten really sloppy.

Yay!!!! My first horse, starting in May!

It has seriously been such a wonderful day. Found a wonderful horse at a wonderful farm (it was just as lovely as advertised, though the XC jumps are kind of oddly placed along the driveway), had a relaxed lunch with Byron, and the new season of Mad Men starts tonight!