Riding About

Get a haircut, LSP

A little while ago a friend remarked that he had a "creepy, edgy feeling" and that was before the nightmare news from Japan. Not wanting to compound things, I thought a brief post on horses might be in order.

After a few weeks of "back to basics" riding, concentrating on control, obedience and collection, JB was moved to a much larger pasture, shared by a small herd of mares and a couple of geldings. She seemed to enjoy that but was obviously too immature and willful to allow herself to be caught easily - so we penned her up.

This helped her attitude. Now she associates the large, enjoyable pasture, with all its interest and fun, with being ridden; the result being a much more amenable, less evasive creature. With that in mind, I've worked on two gaits, walking and trotting, because I want to be sure of that foundation before moving onto speedier things.

One of the herd

With hindsight, I'd say I took JB a little too far, too fast, charging about before I was really sure that she wouldn't do something peculiar. For example, there you are on a semi-trained young thoroughbred mare, gliding over the fields at a smooth hand gallop. Great result. Huge, uplifting enjoyment. Then a stallion calls out on some subsonic frequency from half a mile away and the mare's brain explodes. Bang! and off she goes, with or without you, at tremendous speed.

So she's being trained out of that kind of inconsistency and I'm learning patience. Well worth the effort, because she's a smart, elegant animal with, so I'm told, good athletic potential.

Coyote calling Thursday - set up at first light and see how it goes.

Stay on the horse,

LSP