Horse: Mariah Age: unknown guessing middle aged Breed: Morgan
It was a gorgeous day so I decided to see if a friend of mine wanted to ride…as I have not ridden for like a year, again. So I had the itch pretty bad, text her and she was game, but I said I wanted to ride English.
I had a horse in mind and was relieved when I got there and she had the same one in mind, Mariah. She is I am guessing a middle aged Morgan horse, really cute about 14.3 hands I would guess. I had never ridden her before but she was the safest horse I could think of she had to ride that I could play around with a bit to see how she went English.
As we were taking up I asked for a little background on this horse, she said she was a rescue horse that had been adopted, however, her new owner did not realize how expensive horses are to maintain and board, so reluctantly they had to sell her. It sounded like the people who adopted her were not really experienced riders, so she probably did not have that much training and was previously ridden western.
Just as I had finished bridling her and about to get in the saddle she walks over to me and puts her hand on my shoulder and says….you know…she will buck………………..I’m thinking really!! She then says but she won’t with you because you know how to ride, she only bucks if you bounce on her back. At this point I’m thinking to myself I haven’t ridden in a year, but no I won’t bounce at all…LOL
I got on I mean what the hell….she’s the safest horse on the place what choice do I have. Rode her a little bit and she was fine. definitely a little spoiled gate sour etc. and didn’t know too much but seemed safe enough. I can see why the kid bounced and got bucked off, she has a bouncy fast trot. 🙂
I just reminded my self “Every rider can learn something from any horse, and any horse can learn something from every Rider” – Lacey
What I observed from Horse:
- Did not know how to give to the bit – not soft
- Stiffer to the right
- Evades contact by twisting and putting head up or down
What I observed from Me:
- Out of shape – hard to be steady and strong in a short quick trot
- forgot how hard it is to rider dressage…lol
What I think I could do to improve/fix the above:
- Remember to keep the horses neck straight and on steady contact – even on a circle
- Do some small 12 meter circles then come back out to a larger one
- Stay steady when horse tries to evade contact