Firstly, I have been riding so much more than last summer. It's awesome. It started with doing little mini rides on lesson horses, then Greta gets awesome-er, then resident reining rider lets me do some mini-lessons on his finished reining QH (kind of got the spin down, the sliding stop... well, let's say I was happy to get a bit of a skid out of him, it's harder than it looks! But boy, that horse doesn't look like a fool with his bum on the ground sliding for several feet haha!), then I asked trainer if she had horses that needed riding (I always feel presumptuous when I do things like that, but that's about all you can do, I suppose). One thing didn't lead to another, but the whole deal is very cool.
So, I am now riding a greenie gelding named Salvation, for the time being, at least. I have only rode him three times, counting today's ride, and he's really cool. He tries a lot and is super brave (I call him "the brave little toaster"). He was being an especially cute baby today, but alas I forgot my camera. You guys WILL see him, promise!
Speaking of which, riding him today, trainer asks me to put him into a canter. I had seen it on the longeline, and it's pretty big. But one does not realize the full extent of these things until you actually ride it. His canter is freaking huge. Well, compared to Greta at least, with her little pony princess prance gaits.
Anyway, I digress... he did just fine cantering to the left, got big pats, because I got some pretty prompt responses out of him. Then going to the right, his iffy side, I also got some very prompt responses (thought I was riding a finished schoolmaster for a minute, then the imbalance made me quickly realize I wasn't haha) BUT he kept picking up the left lead, bless him. After about the sixth or seventh try, we pick up the canter again in the corner and he picked up the left lead but then quickly swapped it to the right lead! And within two strides! What a dude!
And then I went to go pat him, surprised him, and he went back to a trot. Ooops.
But still, he got big pats and called it a day. Cuz what he did was really cool.
I also realize I really need to strengthen my legs because they were almost like jelly today, which probably didn't help him any when I was asking for a right lead canter.
Good for you for getting extra experience on as many horses as possible. That is the only way to learn.
ReplyDeleteTeach your greenie autopilot and then you will not have to use your legs to keep him going. No jelly legs and a happy horse!
Oh, it's not that I can't keep him going, he is very much on autopilot as far as speed, it's the steering and keeping his shoulders straight and half-halting, etc lol! Then I rode my grandfather's horse and I think if someone had pulled my stirrups I would look like an absolute noob, my legs were shot! And I can usually post without stirrups pretty well, and do everything else without stirrups wonderfully, so long as I haven't already rode three horses lol. I need to do more exercising :( boo
ReplyDeleteI agree with Val, get all the experience you can on as many horses as possible. They've all got something different to teach you!
ReplyDeleteIndeed! I'm hoping to maybe get the same opportunity at the new place near college, but probably not for a long while lol.
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