Conquered...the people door & Rose tries out a new rider

This afternoon was a big day for Rose, she had a guest at the barn. One of my IHSA students HR, came out to meet Miss. Thing and to see if she might want to ride her once or twice a week under my tutelage. Rose was quick to learn that HR meant business and that she couldn't get away with any of her "new person" tricks, which I was very please to see. After a quick grooming session, we dusted off my hunt tack and quickly learned that Rose had gained some serious girth since last September. I am now on a mission to get a girth extender until she's back into shape. However, I'm happy to have her a bit more rotund during the winter, so I'm not concerned about it. Once we finally got the girth on the last billet hole on both sides of the saddle, we headed out to the arena.

I decided to go ahead and walk her through the people door tacked up, knowing I could always go back and open the garage door if I needed to and that I had a spare set of hands at the ready. However, she walked straight through it without hesitation! YES! This is the first time I have even attempted taking her through it with tack on since the door nonsense began, so I was exceedingly pleased.

Rose & HR after their ride

Rose seemed to have a bit of energy so I gave her a good longe session before we did anything else, and showed off her non-longeline longeing abilities to HR. Next HR decided to do some ground work with Rose to get acquainted with her more. After a nice session of getting Rose to listen to her and move her feet it was time to mount up. HR is a great student and easy to work with. She and Rose got along smashingly under saddle, and I was very please with the pair of them all around. I think that they will be a good team in terms of keeping Rose going during my third trimester (official as of yesterday) and for HR's continued training.

Happy trails and swooshing tails!
•DS•