sidereins...off

I was so anxious I was holding my breath. Today was the day to take the sidereins off of Nina.

I don't like riding in them, they are dangerous and they are too restrictive.
I believe they did their job and made it easy for me to correct her for rearing and harder for her to rear as she got a correction from the sidereins before she was really committed to go all the way up.
But I needed to know.....if she can only be ridden with her head tied down, then she can't really be ridden. I was a little nervous about getting tossed but mostly I was scared to find out that she has only been being good because of the reins and not because she is starting to get it.

She was FINE. More relaxed than usual, probably because of the lack of restriction. And was great, even though her rider was as tense as a piano wire.

Onward and upward!