White Star Summer Ride 6/24

Well tonight was interesting. So I got Cinder #34. She was an absolute sweetheart! She let me catch her no problem out in the pasture and stood perfectly still for grooming. Didn't fuss at all. First we went through Standard Drill. It was really easy. Standard Drill is held in September. Each level is given a drill to learn and compete to see who preforms it best. Single A gets the basic drill. Double A does the same but adds a propeller, and Triple A adds a propeller and Mariner's Cross. Danielle says we will use that as a warm up drill to start learning it. During the ride we mostly worked on basics. We didn't ride with flags :( We built pairs and loped. Then with 4's. Our team just wasn't having a good day. Poor little Cinder just wanted to go! Her trot is absolutely to die for. You can get her to trot slower than she walks. Her lope is great as well. She tries so hard to please you and you can feel it. We worked on cuing with our legs. Most of our ride was spent in the middle talking. They said we did amazing on Sunday and we are going to start picking up the speed on our drill :) So for a twist they had us drop our stirrups, keep a hold of the reins but only use them to keep them at a walk and close our eyes. It was a little scary but Cinder made me feel safe. I knew she wouldn't try anything so pretty soon it was effortless. We had to circle only using our body and legs with our eyes closed. I think cinder did well but I couldn't see. When they let us open our eyes I was still on the rail so that was good. Then we made a line and the ride was done. Not a terrible first ride as Captain but it could have been better. No one took Cinder so I got to unsaddle her. I was very happy. She rolled almost right away but took forever to cool off. When she finally was cool I gave her some carrots. She LOVED me after that. She followed me around like a puppy dog. It was cute. Then I took her home and that was that. There is no Westernaires this weekend due to a big Red Division trip and I have to miss the next White Star ride so it will be a pretty boring week.