On Sunday I gave my nephew a horseback ride. He's only showed occasional interest riding a horse, so when he said he wanted to ride after I rode up on Chico, I said "Sure!". I think that Chico is a good pick for giving a ride because he's basically well behaved and he doesn't spook. When he's naughty, he's trying to eat grass. So he probably won't be a good horse for a beginner (or child who lacks strength and timing to prevent him from eating), but I think that if I ride him a bunch, I might be able to take my nephew out riding double. Chico is pretty unflappable about things on his body. But for now, I just helped him on and explained about sitting on a horse and how horses can be unpredictable so he better hold on...
Then off we went! We went uphill, downhill and finally ended up at the pond where my mom met us with my neice. My nephew had a little trouble with downhill (was sliding all over), so I told him he needs to lean back and put his feet forward (even though he had no stirrups). He did better then.
My nephew even wanted to ride Chico into the water, so we did and Chico pawed and splashed us both. At that point, my nephew wanted to swim, so he got off, and I got on.
Here I'm backing Chico because he wanted to just eat grass and wouldn't stand still at all. He was so well behaved when I was leading him with my nephew on top.
Chico is 5 this year and he's really filled out into a sturdy little horse, eventhough he doesn't have a wide chest at all. I love his flowing tail. I think he's very handsome.
After I returned from my ride, I cantered up to my nephew. My nephew's eye's got big and he looked excited as he said "I wanna do that!". I told him he needs to ride with me a whole lot more before he's ready for that. But, he does have the cowboy boots already. He got those to wear with his halloween costume last year. He was Woody from Toy Story.
2 comments:
He's gorgeous! Beautiful has a small chest as well--I was wondering how that would work out in the long run. They say she's "steep" in the shoulder--which informs her upright hooves. What do you think of that?
He was good for your nephew, but acted up with you? How sweet is that? What a good boy knowing he has precious cargo on board.
Yeah, I think he was also good with my nephew because I was on the ground with him. I have to be pretty strict about the no eating thing when I'm handling him on the ground otherwise he gets out of conrol. But when I ride, if I am just standing still chatting at the pond, I tend to let him eat, and he knows this. So he was a little pushy about continuing to try, but I didn't want him to eat just then. I know, it was my fault for not being consistent.
Chico is also rather upright and has very upright hooves (but not as extremem as Beautiful's hooves). I think that Chico is super athletic and his narrow build and short back definitely contributes to that. He has a great stop (he actually tucks his hiney, and it it's completely natural for him to do so). It was really fun last weekend cantering him through the sandpit and asking him to stop.
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