Last night I finally got back in the saddle again -- woohoo! I hadn't ridden in over a month and a half, and it's sort of a complicated story. For 2 years now I've had the wonderful fortune of working with my friend's horses, but she recently decided to discontinue her riding program and downsize her herd. The upside of this change, from my perspective, is that while she is downsizing I'm still welcome to ride any horse, as often as I'd like -- so I've got unlimited opportunities to get in the saddle, which is great. The downside for me is that for the next few months I will likely always be riding alone -- I know it'll challenge my motivation not to have any kind of riding community. There is also some uncertainty about what my riding situation will be in the long term.
So that's the story... on to the ride! There isn't much to tell. I rode Merlin, a 3 yo paint who is green but quiet, steady, and sensible. He hadn't been worked at all since the last time I rode him, so I took it easy on our out-of-shape selves -- it was only about a 15 or 20 minute ride. We mostly stayed at the walk, working on very simple steering exercises, but with a few trot or halt transitions thrown in. Basic reminder stuff - he was a champ. I'll go back out either Thursday or Saturday to work some more on steering and try to tackle that inconsistent "greenie" trot tempo. It was just so good to be sitting in the saddle again.
5 comments:
Sounds great. To get the trot tempo correct I always tell my riders to think about that big lumbering lesson horse you had growing up. The one that was a little slow legged and trotted the same no matter what you were doing. Most were big TB crosses that had been teaching lessons forever. Think about riding THAT horse and posting THAT trot and before you know it your 3yr old greeny will be nice and steady at the trot.
Sounds like a good ride, even though it was short! Alex's suggestion is neat - I haven't thought of that before. If all else fails, they do make metronomes that clip onto the saddle! ;)
Its nice that she lets you ride as much as you want. Alex's suggestion is good. You know when you are trying to slow down the trot, you post slower, I guess its just the opposite.
I hate the metronomes, but they are sooo helpful. the sound gets annoying after a while.
Metronome, huh? I gotta get one of those for my little speedster!
I'm glad you got some saddle time!
I am glad you got to ride! I hope the situation works out so that you are able to continue riding there.
I can empathize with not having a riding community. There really is no one else that rides where I am boarding. It makes me even more thankful that I do have a trailer and can haul out to ride.
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