Riding Lesson #5

Last night was lesson #5 of the 6. I got to ride my buddy Bergen again. Tiffany said "You'll hate me for this" when she told me who I was riding. :) It went better than last time, but still not great.

He's 17.1 hands, for the record, which makes him at least 2 hands taller than my other horses. I'm 5'4", so my chin was about level with the cinch ring on the saddle. And we won't talk about the fun of getting a stock saddle up on this guy. Heck, I can walk under his neck without ducking too much.

Anyhoo. He was acting up a bit in the stall, probably trying to intimidate me (Sarah says he likes to use his size to bully people). Pretended to spook at a van that drove by, etc. Nothing horrid, just little tests.

I managed to climb up on him, and we did better than last week. He was still a bit of a pill, for the first trot Tiffany had to grab the bridle and jog along for a few yards with him, and again got the pinned ears and snarky face. It was about as frustrating as riding my last horse, and that's saying a lot. After that, I did get some trot out of him on my own, and we did a little bit of forehand turn, again with the pinned ears and grinding teeth and nasty face. He doesn't like to work, this horse. Then Tiffany took Sue and I outside (Sue was on my gal Libby), since the indoor was getting warm, and we rode with Mary (on Bunny, a younger horse) and the two little girls. Bergen was still being a twit, so Sarah got on him and gave him an attitude adjustment. She worked on him for about 5 minutes, and carried a whip but didn't use it. Worked his butt off for those five minutes, and he was much nicer. She says he's great to jump on, and she likes riding him. But she also said he was making me work a lot, and while we're there to work, working that hard is not the goal. Apparently growling at him when you need to, and not being afraid to "kick his guts out" as Tiffany put it, makes him pay attention. Would probably also help if my legs were stronger.

He turned out to have a girth rub when we hosed him down, in spite of the fleece girth, so he'll probably get a few days off. He acted a bit nitwitty when Tiffany was gooping up the rub, and Sarah growled at him and told him to behave or lightning would strike him down. It's an interesting threat. :)

So, Friday's the last ride, since I won't get to go to the demonstration on Saturday (thanks to Father-in-law's family reunion, a butt-numbing 4-hour-drive away). Don't know who I'll be riding Friday, but DH and El Burrito are going to come and spectate. I asked about the possibility of cantering a little on Friday, and Tiffany said they may bring one horse and let us all canter that one a bit on the lunge, just for the experience. I hope we get to; I'd like to canter a decent horse in a better situation.

I didn't canter DJ (Horse #2) at all in the two years I rode him. I honestly didn't trust him that much, especially at anything faster than a walk. He was the type to bolt if he got a notion. He was also good at the "180-degree spin and 6-foot lateral teleport" type of spook, and anything faster than a walk put too much energy into the spook. I did canter my first horse a few times intentionally, but always bareback and I usually leaned too far forward. It wasn't a pretty sight, I'm sure, and it was never more than a few dozen yards before we ran out of ooomph.

El Burrito will get to pet his first horse Friday, which makes me think I'm slacking off. Poor kid's a year old, and has only played with puppies once. I'll never turn him into a horse-crazy kid at this rate.