Last weekend, it was gorgeous on Saturday (55!) and I asked my mom to come and watch the little rascal (she jumped at the chance). I skipped away and rode a horse! I played with them out in the pasture for a while. Kachina is an in-your-pocket horse. I haltered her, lead her around and groomed her for some practice. She was awesome. Let me halter her and just wanted to be played with. That's wonderful for a wild horse that's been ignored all winter. Pumpkin also wouldn't leave me alone. Griffin was interested, and approached a few times, but did not let me approach him without moving away. Cody, however, didn't come to visit the person with the curry comb, but she did let me approach and halter her when I was ready. I tried a new bit on Cody. She'd been trained with a TomThumb type bit (shanked with broken mouth piece), but I've read that those types of bits can cause confusion with rein signals. Since she did seem to not respond super quickly when I rode her last fall (but she'd also had a couple months off before I climbed aboard after baby), I decided to try a solid mouth bit. So I have a very gently curved curb-type bit that I tried on her. Afterall, the severity of the bit is determined by the hands that are connected to it, not the bit itself. And those broken mouth type bits can really be severe when they pinch the mouth as they fold in half when pulled on.
I couldn't do any ground work before riding, since it was so muddy, so I took her for a walk down the road a ways first. She was excited and nervous. I'm really glad I walked her first, especially since I was riding bareback. Even so, she was still keyed up when I climbed aboard. We rode down the road and through the woods on some closed snowmobile trails. They were partly snow covered and partly bare. Cody was quite nervous and antsy and just wanted to go home. I guess that's what happens when you haven't ridden a horse all winter, it's melting snow, and a little windy. She did spook a couple of times at flushing grouse and the wind, but other than that, she was pretty good and responded really well to the bit. She turned very nicely and even bent her body in the right direction when neck-reining. I was surprised at myself for having such a good seat when she spooked while I rode bareback. It's been quite a long time since I've ridden! This was only the second time I'd ridden in the last year!
1 comment:
Well, it was to be expected--you were pregnant and had a baby! I think they're all a little herd bound this time of year....at least Beautiful is. I'm glad you're looking on the bright side of having snow.
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