Out on the Trails

I rode trails for the first time on Friday!

At first, I was a little bit worried about it. DeDe texted me before the ride, letting me know that there was construction going on in the riverbed where we would be riding. She told me that she wasn't sure I could handle the horses if they got nervous. I was feeling a little anxious when I got there, and also a little sad. I knew that if it was too hard for me, I wouldn't get to ride.

I haltered Porsche and took her out by myself, while DeDe tacked up Luca. I led her to the wash rack, tied her, groomed her, and picked her feet. I was a little surprised that I got her to pick up her feet for me, actually. In the past, I have had issues with that, as I can't seem to figure out where I'm supposed to squeeze to get her to do it. I had to think really hard about it. You stand at the horse's shoulder, facing its hindquarters. Then, run your hand down its leg to the bubbly joint at the bottom, called the fetlock. Squeeze the fetlock to get the horse to pick up its foot. Hold the foot in your non-dominant hand, and hold the hoof pick in the other. Pick away from yourself, removing any dirt or rocks or anything from around the frog and the horse's shoes, if they wear them. Now you know.

I also tacked her up on my own, mostly. I would like to point out that saddles are really heavy! Up until now, I've always had help lifting it and placing it, but this time I did it alone. I had a bit of trouble remembering to do silly things that would have made my life easier, like hooking the stirrups over the saddle horn to get them out of the way. My shoulder hurt the next day because I spent so long fiddling with it. Once I finally got it on, I tightened the girth (I actually tightened it enough this time! Crazy!) and led Porsche to DeDe's tack room on the other side of the barn. DeDe put the bridle on her for me.

Porsche gave me a little bit of a hard time getting on. She kept trying to walk away from the mounting block. I had to lead her in circles around it three times. It frustrates me a little bit that it's so hard to gain her respect. Eventually though, I did get on, and we were able to take off.

We rode a little way down the railroad tracks, under the freeway, and into the riverbed. I was surprised that the horses weren't phased at all by the horrible groaning noises coming from above us as we rode under the freeway. There weren't and tractors in the riverbed, really. They were outside the riverbed, on the other side of a fence from us. We were above them, and they didn't move around much or get too close to us, so the horses didn't seem to be that interested in them. DeDe commented that most horses would have been losing their marbles at the noise, let alone the few times when they drove near us. More reasons I love Porsche :)

Trail riding is very different than riding in the arena. In the arena, DeDe wants me to collect the reins, while on the trail she wanted me to give Porsche her head most of the time. The horses were kind of on alert because of the noise and movement of the tractors, so I kept talking to Porsche to try and calm her. That was a bit reassuring for me too, actually. DeDe and I chatted as we rode as well. It was fun! Definitely a nice break from the arena.

I feel like this also really boosted my confidence. We did just a few minutes of trotting, and I felt pretty good about that. Of course, I was also really happy that I held it together and didn't really feel nervous while we were riding. I feel like I'm finally starting to get somewhere!

A Pain in the 2600 lb Butt

Pandora... Oh, Pandora.

She's super pretty, and really sweet... but she's a butt. She gave me a really hard time today.

Grooming her was kind of an adventure. She's just so tall! I could barely reach up her back. She was great while I was grooming her, but she really didn't seem happy about tacking up. She kept trying to walk off. Not only that, but we had to put a different bridle on her, because hers was all weird. The bit was hanging way low for some reason. She seemed really unhappy about all that.

I was excited to ride her, but honestly I was also really nervous. Pandora is just so huge! It's a little scary. DeDe took her around the round pen a couple times first, to show me that I really needed to push her, because she's so strong and so huge that she can easily do her own thing if I didn't show her I was in charge.

That's something I have a really hard time with. I want to ask the horses nicely to do things for me. I don't want to kick them, I don't want to yell at them. It works with some horses in some cases... like Porsche and Lola. They want to go forward. But Pandora really really doesn't. Pandora needs to be pushed, and hard.

I was constantly kicking Pandora, through my whole lesson. I just couldn't kick her hard enough to get her to pick up her feet. DeDe told me that part of my issue was that I pulled on the reins at the same time as I kicked her, so I confused her. Eventually she got me a riding crop to smack her with, but I couldn't seem to do that either. I don't know if it was just the way I was holding it, but I couldn't hit her very hard. More likely it's that I was afraid of hurting her... which is silly.

Getting her to stop was an adventure. I had the same issue with the reins that I have with the kicking and the crop. I had it with Porsche and Lola, too. However, because Pandora is so strong and so big, I got over it quickly. I feel much more comfortable with yelling at her to "ho"and pulling hard on the reins now.

I trotted for the first time today too. I was a little (read: a lot) nervous about that. The last time I trotted, when Lola took off on me, I felt really insecure. I definitely felt insecure when I trotted on Pandora, too. DeDe said that Pandora has a pretty smooth trot, but still... all that bouncing makes me feel unseated. I kept wanting to hold the horn, but then I couldn't steer or stop, which was kind of scary. I felt really proud of myself for stopping her on my own, with the reins and yelling at her, while trotting. I that may have been my biggest accomplishment today.

Or it might have been getting her to trot in the first place... I had to keep wimpy-smacking her with the crop and kicking her and yelling to get her to go! I really want to work on my confidence and my take charge-y-ness over the next few weeks.

I don't have as many pictures today, since I didn't have anyone to take them while I was riding, but I did get a couple of Pandora in her stall.

Since it's Friday, I hung out for a while at the stables. DeDe gave me some extra time in the saddle since it took so long to tack Pandora up, and then I stayed and watched to next lesson, helped the kids groom Lola, helped lead Luca from his stall to the round pen and back. We had a little bit of an adventure with Lola, too. She used to be abused, and we assume that they whipped her face and head, since she has scars there. When DeDe was taking her out of the cross ties,  she freaked out. She pulled back and practically sat down on her hindquarters until the cross tie broke, and took off running to her stall. DeDe went and caught her, and everything was fine after that. She said Lola doesn't like things around her face, probably because of the abuse. 

On another note, I hurt myself somehow! I think I scraped my arm on the saddle while dismounting. Pandora's so tall that I guess I was clinging to it a little bit.

Oh, Pandora... You're so pretty! Why are you such a butt?