Horseback riding.
Dec. 12th, 2010 01:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
crazychicknladySaturday was flood day, so no riding.
Today we need to do yard work at the old house (need to get it ready to put on the market in January, and January is approaching with lightning speed), so no riding.
On Friday, however, H rode Ezra for the third day, and I pretty much stood back and let her do everything (with the exception of needing to help her get him to turn left a few dozen times; he's stubborn about turning left even when I'm on him, and H's arms aren't quite long enough to get good leverage on the rein to pull his head around when he's being extra stubborn).
I'm so proud of them both. Ezra kept slow and steady the whole time. He even stopped when he felt H lose her balance at one point (she was trying to lean far enough forward to get a better hand position on the left rein in preparation for a left turn and went a bit too far forward). H was able to control Ezra fairly well (with the exception of the aforementioned left turns, and she still made him do some of them all on her own). From my inexperienced eye she seems to have a pretty good seat, balanced and good posture.
C rode on Friday too (controlling Ezra only a very small amount, but shhh, don't let on to C, he's convinced he did it almost all himself), but S was sleeping in late and missed her chance. She did ride Thursday, along with everyone else, however, and controlled Ezra for some of her ride.
I'm very excited by this development. I still wouldn't trust Ezra with the kids out in the main yard, but he seems to be one of those horses smart enough to realize when he's got a kid on his back. He never went faster than a walk, even down the slope where he always likes to trot when I'm riding.
With H to keep me honest, I think regular horse riding is going to be incorporated into our normal routine.
Today we need to do yard work at the old house (need to get it ready to put on the market in January, and January is approaching with lightning speed), so no riding.
On Friday, however, H rode Ezra for the third day, and I pretty much stood back and let her do everything (with the exception of needing to help her get him to turn left a few dozen times; he's stubborn about turning left even when I'm on him, and H's arms aren't quite long enough to get good leverage on the rein to pull his head around when he's being extra stubborn).
I'm so proud of them both. Ezra kept slow and steady the whole time. He even stopped when he felt H lose her balance at one point (she was trying to lean far enough forward to get a better hand position on the left rein in preparation for a left turn and went a bit too far forward). H was able to control Ezra fairly well (with the exception of the aforementioned left turns, and she still made him do some of them all on her own). From my inexperienced eye she seems to have a pretty good seat, balanced and good posture.
C rode on Friday too (controlling Ezra only a very small amount, but shhh, don't let on to C, he's convinced he did it almost all himself), but S was sleeping in late and missed her chance. She did ride Thursday, along with everyone else, however, and controlled Ezra for some of her ride.
I'm very excited by this development. I still wouldn't trust Ezra with the kids out in the main yard, but he seems to be one of those horses smart enough to realize when he's got a kid on his back. He never went faster than a walk, even down the slope where he always likes to trot when I'm riding.
With H to keep me honest, I think regular horse riding is going to be incorporated into our normal routine.
