Lovely ride this evening

We are watching Back to the Future 2 as a family and I'm reflecting on the lovely afternoon I had.

Maggie's friend Allyson came over to ride Joe Bear and Maggie was going to ride Dixie.  After rearranging the trailer and cleaning up, I finally got to ride. I rode Liberty in the loose ring, myler snaffle i used to use and he was great.  After my lesson with Shea I have been concentrating on a lighter touch and he is really starting to respond. I think that this bit business may eventually work out. I was even able to eventually get a nice canter out of him. He was slow to canter b/c he doesn't like the feel of the bit in his mouth cantering. he likes to canter in the frame he decides on, not necessarily the frame I want. Maggie worked with him and got him going, and then I did as well. he tried to bully a bit, but I kept after him and after threatening a few bucks and temper tantrums he went nicely. He can't canter a circle, but he did pick up a canter on a bend, so I was pretty pleased. 

Poor Maggie is having trouble with Dixie thought.  Her back is sore and she just seems very unhappy about being ridden. Maggie had been riding her English,which I think just isn't going to work. She has realized she needs to ride her in my western saddle (or i need to find her an endurance saddle) but since Maggie likes to ride English it makes her life difficult.  She's giving her some time off this week and is going to switch to the treeless saddle and the western saddle for awhile and we'll go from there.  I'm going to keep my eyes open for her to buy an English saddle for jumping, but they never seem to be around for the price I want to pay whenever  I'm shopping.