Bareback lesson

Yes, we finally got the chance to try some bareback at school!
I rode Mersea again, which was lovely. He's a good boy, even though he can be kind of nasty in the stall. He tried to kick me again today. He also made several attempts at biting me before I whopped him in the shoulder with the heel of my hand and set him straight. He was pretty good for me after that.
We had a wonderful ride with our saddle. Mersea has a particularly comfortable saddle. Walking, trotting, and cantering were all very fun. Mersea was a little slow, but it was still very nice to ride him. I like his gaits. We worked over some trotting poles for a while, and Mersea was, of course, very good at that. He's good at just about everything, really.
Teresa called us over halfway through the lesson and told us to strip everything but the bridles from our horses. I was excited to hear that, except that my hip was hurting and I opted not to take a pain pill before our flat lesson. It wasn't too bad during the ride, though.
Mersea is very short compared to Stella, so I had an easy time hopping onto him. I remember one time when I tried to jump on Stella bareback. I was having a little...er, problem. I was about halfway on, and then Stella took an accidental leg squeeze as the cue to leap into a trot. I stupidly gripped with my calves in an attempt to stay on, so she broke into a canter. At that point, she hit the fence, turned right, and left me in the dust. It scared the poor girl to death, and I couldn't even tell her that she was naughty because she wasn't--she did exactly what I inadvertently asked her to do! I digress. For the millionth time.
Mounting Mersea was a success, so we walked around and had a fine time taking it slow. Teresa called for a trot, so I took up a little mane and off we went. The mane. My absolute favorite part of the horse's anatomy when it comes to close calls! Mersea and I did have a few close calls today. In fact, I've never had so many "oh-no-I'm-about-to-fall-off" moments in a single lesson, especially at Hazelwild. I did manage to avoid hitting the ground, though, and it was a lot of fun. Teresa let us canter individually if we felt up to it. I've never actually cantered bareback before, so it was quite the experience for me. It was fun! As you probably expected, I did almost slip off once or twice during the downward transition.
I want to do it again before the end of the semester, and I want to try Bugsy. He looks like the perfect bareback pony.
I would've already popped some painkillers, but I'm really tired and sure that I'll pass out once the stuff takes effect. I need to stay awake and finish my programming assignment that's due tonight :P If I can't walk, there are less distractions--that's a way to look at it!