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Tuesday, April 11, 2017

New Adventures, Part the First

Last week, I took advantage of some very generous offers by barn mates to take lessons on different horses. One of my goals this year was to ride 10 different horses and when people hand you the reins to impeccably trained personal horses, well, you don't say no.
especially not to this face
The first was this lovely mare from last week. She's completely adorable and basically perfect. I've seen her go a lot of times and always just assumed she was your "typical" stock-type paint that was a little bit dull.

Not so.
meet Cocoa!
She is absolutely the cutest, most sensitive little mare that is 110% solid try. Oh and her owner has done an AHMAZING job with her. Seriously.

Once my trainer got me on the same page with this little gal, I had so much fun. She's a training/first level horse that was a reiner sometime in the past. She also thinks like a pony, so I had to be careful to be very soft/giving with my hands, but keep her FORWARD and remember that she likes to drift to the gate. So honest. So fun.

And then while Courage recuperated from bodywork, I got to snag a lesson on a solid-first, schooling-second Friesian cross mare who is also super cool.
and Ms Nikki!
This mare has a ton of excellent training, but has primarily only had one rider. She's a bit suspicious of new people, so I had to sit quietly on her and help her believe I wasn't going to ask for more than she could do. She was super sensitive to my movements and very light off the aids.

This is what I love about having our trainer on board--she knows where I'm at and she knows where Courage is at and she's able to work on me on other horses without being down on Courage. He and I have a complicated relationship, but it's a little too intense right now and the best way to dial it back is to sit on some other horses and remember that yes, I can ride. Sort of.

Both the mares let me figure my stuff out without doing anything dangerous. They had their own ways of going and their own evasions, but they were straightforward and safe.

And then it was time to get back on my man C-rage.

31 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I'm too old and floppy to ride the wild ones anymore so I'm very grateful people were willing to share their super nice horses.

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  2. I love the paint mare! So cute.

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  3. Two beautiful girls and ya'll look awesome 😍

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  4. Good trainers are invaluable! I've always enjoyed doing catch rides, the challenge of getting a new-to-me horse going as best as possible makes it a good rider check

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    1. Hahaha yeah I have some video and it is not flattering of me lol.

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  5. I think you need the little friesian cross.

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    1. I could probably talk her owner into selling. I'd just need like... twice my annual salary. 😂

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  6. That Friesian! Both very cool horses. I need to do this. Haven't ridden a different horse in about a year.

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    1. Yeah it's been forever for me too. It's hard to make the time and source the horses on an ammy schedule.

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  7. That paint is so cute! She looks like a pony I rode as a kid :)

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  8. Sounds like 2 awesome mares. It's nice to sit on one that reminds us we aren't failures. When Annie makes me want to gouge my eyes out on the flat Houston helps me remember that things do get better... eventually. I hope 😂

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    1. Hahaha yeah. It was super nice to be like "oh hey my position doesn't completely suck--I'm just adapting it to my wildly sensitive ottb who hyper reacts to me sitting down on him".

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  9. That paint is adorableeee.
    www.baysoverbaes.wordpress.com

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  10. Cocoa is so cute!!! Excuse me while I go die.

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  11. Always fun to sit on other people's horses, especially if you have the bonus of them actually being trained! ;) you look great on both of them, but I really dig the Friesian cross. Also your outfit.

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    1. I'm too old and busted to sit on the untrained ones anymore.

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  12. Those mares are ADORABLE - gah!

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  13. So fun!! Sure I wish I was still riding Georgie, but isn't riding new horses so fun?? I learn SO much!!

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