....and today Rye went out for his first ride in the Forest. I think riding and work will be the making of this pony as he is absolutely ready and loves migrating. We will look at teaching him to understand a bit next week so that he can be ridden off the lead rein without pushing through the reins as he is wont to do in the Dually. We hope to keep his mouth really responsive from the outset by doing lots of transitioning to it and asking him to soften. The last thing we want to do is to stick him into a gadget and teach him that he can just lean into a pressure or that he has to contort his neck in order to avoid the discomfort. He has a lovely natural head carriage - just in front of the vertical right now and is nicely forward going. I would hate to think that he would meet with 2lbs of pressure through each rein which is what I was told to do by various instructors.
