Baby's first ride :)
Jul. 3rd, 2008 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
summer_jackelSo, I rode Dancer for the first time today. It went really well!
We started with a lot of longeing, until he was nice and tired. He's been trained to ground rein/drive, but I didn't do that today. I'd been practicing 'balancing' on his saddle, putting all of my weight on the stirrup and hanging off of it for awhile, with no problems from him; this time, I just swung all the way over into the saddle.
He was upset at first and shied. I slid off, and through trial and error realized he was frightened by the feel of my legs in his girth area, which is something I will try to figure out how to desensitize on the next baby I start. (old boots tied into loose stirrups, maybe?) While in the saddle, I reassured him and rubbed my legs back and forth on his sides to desensitize him. After 10 minutes or so, he didn't care. We spent a long time just standing there while he sniffed my feet and I scratched his ears and crest. He tried to bolt twice and bucked all of four times, just little hops that were easy to correct. A horse needs to learn eventually that bucking dosen't work (heh, you certainly don't want him to learn that it DOES); no time like the present.
Once he seemed bored with just standing there, I asked him to move out, leading to a little more confusion and the attempts to bolt. But he remembered his driving and ground commands, and very quickly, he was walking politely around the pasture with a light mouth, obeying all of my requests. He even held still while I picked blackberries. I rode him for about an hour, and after he got over the initial WTFness, he seemed to like it as much as I did. :)
Dancer is a very fun horse to ride; he picked up his mother's lovely movement, and I'm thrilled about it. He's also very patient, responsive and not particularly prone to drama, especially given that he's a three year old stallion. I absolutely love him, and am so proud.
We started with a lot of longeing, until he was nice and tired. He's been trained to ground rein/drive, but I didn't do that today. I'd been practicing 'balancing' on his saddle, putting all of my weight on the stirrup and hanging off of it for awhile, with no problems from him; this time, I just swung all the way over into the saddle.
He was upset at first and shied. I slid off, and through trial and error realized he was frightened by the feel of my legs in his girth area, which is something I will try to figure out how to desensitize on the next baby I start. (old boots tied into loose stirrups, maybe?) While in the saddle, I reassured him and rubbed my legs back and forth on his sides to desensitize him. After 10 minutes or so, he didn't care. We spent a long time just standing there while he sniffed my feet and I scratched his ears and crest. He tried to bolt twice and bucked all of four times, just little hops that were easy to correct. A horse needs to learn eventually that bucking dosen't work (heh, you certainly don't want him to learn that it DOES); no time like the present.
Once he seemed bored with just standing there, I asked him to move out, leading to a little more confusion and the attempts to bolt. But he remembered his driving and ground commands, and very quickly, he was walking politely around the pasture with a light mouth, obeying all of my requests. He even held still while I picked blackberries. I rode him for about an hour, and after he got over the initial WTFness, he seemed to like it as much as I did. :)
Dancer is a very fun horse to ride; he picked up his mother's lovely movement, and I'm thrilled about it. He's also very patient, responsive and not particularly prone to drama, especially given that he's a three year old stallion. I absolutely love him, and am so proud.
