Moody Fog and Ride 3

After a mentally tough day at work, I went out to my yard and took Drifter's blanket off. He was a bit standoffish which was a big indicator of my energy. A storm was rolling in and a better backdrop would have been a cemetery, instead of my arena.

I saddled him and let him buck free across the arena for a few minutes. He still wants to do that sometimes and it makes me laugh. He came back to me and let me bridle him.

Immediately, I began working on my timing with the feet in my serpentines. Keeping my hands as light as I could and finding that perfectly timed release. Shortly thereafter, we were floating through our serpentines. I am fascinated by the release as the horse gives (not after).

The rain began to fall so I got my slicker. This was the first time I had ridden with it. Drifter let me on his back and we rode around the yard: the front, the back, the arena. Slicker or none, rain or shine, good day or bad, this seems to be sinking in with both of us. I have to trust and believe it will.

And I began to think that no matter what happens, this will always be there for me.

It's not about riding. You cannot train a horse or a human to find this. I feel myself pulling back and that scares me, because I don't think that is the answer. Out of the goodness of camaraderie, horse people try to relate to each other in the "ride". But horse people can be terribly "cliquey" as well and I don't want to be cliquey because I want other people to experience this for the sake of their horses.



Now, you are not going to believe this (unless you read my previous entry)...

This week marked my third ride with Travis in 15 years.

After work on Tuesday, I immediately started asking if he would go riding with me. His repetitive no turned into what's it worth to me. I had my boundaries but I wanted to find a place where it could work. I wanted to give him a chance to ride Jake, because I think Jake could use a human right now. After working out the details regarding our next dog(s) that we may end up with after Quincy goes into the light, Jake was saddled and we were on our way.

I showed Travis how to move Jake laterally and how to round out his back for a smoother trot. We discovered Travis has a good seat (which I would have guessed anyway considering his natural athletic ability). It was nice to hear him later comment that at first he didn't see what the big deal was, but the more he rode interactively, the more tired his legs became.

Jake and Drifter had one minor spook, which Travis was able to stop with one rein. And he had become comfortable trotting that he energetically decided he was just going to trot out on Jake and Jake let out a woo-hoo kick. One-rein stop again and we walked home.

This made me a happy girl.