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Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Top 6 Reasons to Have a Riding Buddy

Redheadlins and I ride together a lot. Here's a list of my 6 favorite things about having a riding buddy.

Yeah, check us out
1. Instant feedback. She's a much better rider than I am, but she doesn't look down on me. Instead she always yells at me to "canter on" and I nearly fall off my horse laughing when she eats Diva's mane over an 18" jump. Noted: she has stopped doing that this year. She needs a new flaw or I'm going to start feeling inadequate.






Diva did it first
2. Peer pressure. Diva and Courage are in pretty similar places in their training. As such, we're constantly having a friendly competition. "Oh, well Diva jumped the bigger jump so now I have to." Obviously, this could be taken too far, but we both want thet best for the hoses, so it just seves to keep us motivated.







Hellz yeah we can jump barrels
3. Course setting. On Sunday, I had some extra time and so I set up a whole new course with inviting little jumps and flowing turns. On Monday, she had some extra time, so she jacked all the jumps up and added a shit ton of fill.

S.C.A.R.Y.

But we did it because Diva did and we all know that Courage is the best at jumping. I swear he's competing with Diva anyways.




Like our second attempt at a gate
4. Extra Bravery. I am hesitant to tackle big, scary issues on my own because I always want to set my horse up for a good experience. Having another set of eyes and a more experienced rider around gives me the courage (ha!) to address things I probably wouldn't otherwise for fear of screwing up my horse.








Because yeah, my face
5. Laughter. This is the first time we did the gate. He started to jump it normally and then was all "OH SHIT WHAT IS THAT MADNESS?" and took a flying deer leap. When she could finally stop laughing, we figured out a new plan and readdressed it.

But I never would have tried that on my own.




New profile pic. Yeah.
6. ALL THE PICTURES. I straight up love pony pictures, so I really don't think I ought to explain much beyond this. For those doubters who are all like "private lives are private", I'll just add that nothing helps me improve quite as much as the ability to look over the highlights of the day and then make adjustments for my next ride.

In the age of technology, this is so easy. We used to trade off phones for pictures, but it's so hard to catch the right moment, plus her camera is better than mine. Now we just take video on her phone and then grab video stills.

This particular round is pretty amazing, but the less amazing ones help us too.

Those are just the top six reasons for having a riding buddy, and I haven't even touched on the shared stories and instant sympathy and mad cooking skills. (Noted: never compromise on these. You have to do something when it's too cold to ride.)

23 comments:

  1. Judging from the air time Courage got over the gate, I think you guys will be ready for that 3' derby!

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    1. LOL - that was my first thought, too!

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  2. I like having a riding buddy too, but for a different reason - safety. If I come off, at least there will be someone there to dial 911! :D

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  3. Aw, my best barn buddy moved away. This reminded me to talk to her today!

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  4. Oh my gosh I am so jealous! I would love, love, love a riding buddy!

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  5. Yah for riding buddies! I'm blessed to have mine!

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  6. Wow, what phone do you use? I never knew your pics were from video stills!!

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  7. Cool that you have a nice riding buddy! and i love your banner.

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  8. I agree...I love having a show buddy too..since I mostly ride alone. BTW Courage is a jumper...like immensely. What a good pick.

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  9. I love my riding buddy, for all the reasons you list above. Totally enhanced my riding life.

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  10. These are great and I am jealous in a good way! Next post: 6 ways to find yourself a riding buddy. ;]

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  11. Riding buddies are the best! I miss having one!

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  12. I miss having a riding buddy. I love my solo trail rides,but I'm definitely not as motivated without Erin in my riding life.

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  13. Don't touch anything Courage! ;)

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  14. You and Courage look so AWESOME!!! I love the pictures (and I can't believe those are still shots off of video... nice!)!

    This post also makes me super sad because I have nobody to ride with and I need all of those things so bad! :( I'm happy that you have such a fantastic riding buddy though. :D

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  15. You guys are the best riding buddies!

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  16. Love this! He (and you!) looks incredible!! I love having a riding buddy!

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  17. I miss having my riding buddies around. I mean, my time with Charlie is "my time" and I enjoy being alone but I also like to have friends there sometimes for all of the reasons you mentioned above, especially for the motivational factor. Plus, it's much easier to jump something if they are there to set a crossrail first and then gradually raise it for you.

    P.S. Love the friendly competition. Great way to push each other to try new things!

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