K likes to refer to her percheron, B, as a freight train because she's difficult to stop, likes to spontaneously canter when trotting and will stop everything, walk to the edge of the ring and drop her head for some grass whenever she pleases. She also has no problem marching through the gate and towards her barn if you aren't 100% convincing that it isn't time yet. As you can imagine, as a beginner this is a horse I do not get a lot of exposure to in my lesson program.
Which is why it was so nice of K to let me come out and ride B for the second time yesterday. The first time, I was mildly terrified by the spontaneous cantering (I hadn't cantered since the day I broke my arm) and more-than-a-little embarrassed by how hard it was for me to control B when she strolled right out of the ring, nose to the ground, with me on her back. The second time went a little better. All of those things kept happening, but K's advice of having me to serpentines on B to distract her worked well and even if she did start misbehaving, I could eventually bring her back to attention. I tried to do all this without pulling her mouth, which just seemed pointless and cruel for a freight train and also rude to do in front the owner. This was a good way to get a better understanding of how to use my feet, legs and seat to convince a horse to do her job. K had me walk B out into the meadow, which was basically the first time I'd ever ridden out of the ring by myself (as you can tell, I note every first when they happen).
Overall, it is a great experience riding B, and I hope K can find it in her busy schedule to let me tag along again some time. I'm definitely not ready to ride B without K present, but maybe some day it could turn into a half-lease situation!
Which is why it was so nice of K to let me come out and ride B for the second time yesterday. The first time, I was mildly terrified by the spontaneous cantering (I hadn't cantered since the day I broke my arm) and more-than-a-little embarrassed by how hard it was for me to control B when she strolled right out of the ring, nose to the ground, with me on her back. The second time went a little better. All of those things kept happening, but K's advice of having me to serpentines on B to distract her worked well and even if she did start misbehaving, I could eventually bring her back to attention. I tried to do all this without pulling her mouth, which just seemed pointless and cruel for a freight train and also rude to do in front the owner. This was a good way to get a better understanding of how to use my feet, legs and seat to convince a horse to do her job. K had me walk B out into the meadow, which was basically the first time I'd ever ridden out of the ring by myself (as you can tell, I note every first when they happen).
Overall, it is a great experience riding B, and I hope K can find it in her busy schedule to let me tag along again some time. I'm definitely not ready to ride B without K present, but maybe some day it could turn into a half-lease situation!
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