Mare Swap

Meet Bailey:
In our lesson Friday, Bailey's owner and I will be mare swapping. My friend will ride Delphi and I'll get to ride Bailey. A Jockey Club registered Thoroughbred and also registered in the Oldenburg main mare book, Bailey is Delphi's stablemate. Should be interesting to experience some forward medium canters, and also neat to see someone else piloting Delphi.

UPDATE:
Let it not be said that we chickened out, 'cause we so didn't. It turns out that the girls had to stay indoors due to weather so were especially fresh for their lesson, and Ceil and I sagely reasoned together that it would be best to postpone the swap to a less cold, windy, excess energy day.
However we did school an excellent exercise for both improving the shoulder in and the parallel leg yield: say you're leg yielding left; as you ride through the corner on the short side, aim across the long diagonal but immediately begin shoulder in right. Maintaining shoulder in right does two things: it keeps the haunches from leading or trailing, and it keeps the horse parallel to the long side. Bailey expertly demonstrated how to do a forward, correct leg yield by doing shoulder in across the diagonal. Delphi and I improved, and finally "got it." Fun!

Pastoral setting:

Funny boy Poder with the girls:

After the lesson, a well deserved break: