Some of you may have already read this...but I haven't posted on here for a long time, so here's my sorry excuse for a post...no pictures yet....
-Preamble-
My poor neglected mare, Riata, finally got some attention this year. I bought her as a yearling in 2007 and watched her grow with dreams of what I'd do with her someday. In the spring of 2008 I started working with her in the round pen, handling her and teaching her to lunge. I had hoped and planned to put a few rides on her that spring and then turn her out to grow until her 3 year old year. It was about the time I wanted to try riding her when I found out I was pregnant....I decided against pursuing that any further and decided that the next year was plenty soon to ride her. The spring of 2009 found me with a sweet little baby girl in my arms, and big garden dreams, hardly any time to work with a horse and with the new found responsibilities of parenthood, I could hardly bring myself to do something that seemed as risky as riding a young horse. Compounded by my lack of confidence in my abilities to do the job well, I put off starting her again. That fall, my good friend Melinda mentioned that she would be interested in getting back into training horses again and would be interested in starting Riata for me. Fast forward to June of this year, and Riata took the trailer ride North to the White Ranch. Now, just because Riata wasn't worked with much, it doesn't mean there aren't stories to tell of those two intervening years. Things like an argument with the back end of a trailer that resulted in a vet bill and some scars and a tangle with some page wire that resulted in the same.... She had also learned some bad habits and was very stubborn about somethings. It was very much the right choice for me to send my round pen and my mare to Melinda, her confidence and experience made all the difference in the world, and to this day, Riata is a different horse around her, just because she knows how well Melinda knows her! I have to admit, I've had to overcome some fears in this process, and I have learned a lot thanks to Melinda!
Riata started boot camp around the second week of June I believe and by the middle of July, Melinda said it was my turn to come have a few rides on her. I didn't feel too nervous that first day, but I think I must have been, by the way she reacted and the way my muscles all hurt the next day... After Melinda lunged and rode her a bit, she had me mount and lunged her some more just so I could get a feel for her. Then came time for me to go on my own...it sure is a different feeling to have a well tuned but young and inexperienced horse underneath you compared to the rather hastily/sloppily trained horses I have oft ridden in the past. I was rather surprised at how responsive she was, and definitely learned where my riding deficiencies are! After a lesson in the hot sun, both Riata and I were ready for a soak down with cold water and a nice drink....she's the only one who got sprayed down with a hose though...I opted for a few minutes rest in the air conditioned house with a glass of ice water before I drove home. A few days later I was back for a trail ride. We took Riata and another young horse that Melinda was training and went 2 miles down the gravel road before coming back. I was much more relaxed this time and my muscles weren't nearly as sore :) About a week later, we stopped by the White Ranch again and Trevor had a lesson/ride on Riata so that he would understand the way she was being trained as well, since he'd likely need to ride her sometimes too. After I came back from vacation at the beginning of August, we brought her home.
-Part 1- The first solo ride
It was Friday evening, the 13th of August. I put Lorelei to bed and Trevor and I went out to ride the horses. I saddled up Riata using his saddle (since we decided it fit me better than my own saddle did) and he tacked up his black gelding Guthrie in my saddle. We kept it pretty simple, after lunging Riata I mounted and we rode in the small pasture adjoining the barnyard, mostly walking and trotting circles. We did some loping, but the dew had fallen on the grass and it was somewhat slippery, especially since the area we were riding isn't as wide as I'd like it to be and the corners we were turning were fairly sharp. It went fairly well, although I was somewhat nervous. I had almost relaxed when Riata decided during one of our loping circles that she ought to jump over the approaching thistle rather than run through it...that startled me a bit...and...besides, it was getting dark...we didn't ride much longer. The total ride was probably about 25 minutes.
-Part 2- The first trail ride
Sunday afternoon was cool and very windy, but since Trevor was home to keep an eye on the sleeping baby, I decided to take Riata out for a spin. After the usual warm-up procedures (lunging and flexing), we set out to the East down the little used road allowance. Sneef, my good dog, felt it her duty to accompany me on this journey. Riata was on edge, looking at everything and turning from side to side with each step, like a drunken sailor! Guthrie was calling from the corral, and although she didn't answer, I soon discovered that was where she wanted to go. It took some urging and persistence to keep her facing East. I tried to keep her mind off her surroundings by picking up speed, but she was not to be easily fooled. I wasn't sure what played the biggest role in her reluctance, her desire to return home, riding with the wind(an animals instinct is always to go into the wind whenever possible), or just the strange surroundings. It took 3/4 of a mile before she would move straight ahead and keep going at the speed I asked, and she still looked sideways at every little washout in the road and tried to side step into the canola and wheat on each side of the road. Once we got going, it was quite a nice ride. We loped the first half mile towards home and I think I finally figured out the trick to keeping my butt in the saddle during her springy lope...gotta let that pelvis rock :-D The only difficulty we had on the ride home was trying to keep my hat as we rode into the stiff West wind. We loped and trotted and finally walked the last little bit into the yard. Trevor took her out for about another mile and a half after I rode her, so she got well exercised that day!
-Part 3- Ride #3
Tonight I knew I needed to get out and ride Riata, but I got somewhat distracted by my reconnection to the internet after having been disconnected for a week. I finally got outside at 8:45 by the time I got Riata tacked up and sprayed down with fly spray...lunged her...changed the stirrups on the saddle (I finally eliminated the silly monkey toe tapederos that poked her in the ribs every time I got on or off) It was pretty dark. So, instead of going down the road as I had planned, I just locked Guthrie in the back part of the corral and rode Riata in the corral/pasture near the yard light. She was very edgy when I first mounted, and I almost got off right away because I was scared....but I couldn't get her to stand still...so the only way out was to ride out her jitters. Who can blame her, even your own pen looks kinda scary in the shadows of twilight... It turned out pretty well, but it wasn't a long ride because there's only so much you can do in a corral that size that has a manure pile in the middle.... about 20 minutes or so later I was done...a good experience for both of us I think!
