# Starting from Scratch



## pmclamb (Aug 30, 2009)

Hey all...I am 24 years old and just getting started into a passion for horses. I work at a veterinary office and a couple people that I work with have horses. One person in particular took me out to see her horse and I fell in love with her! Her name is Flicka and she is a Quarter Horse mare, 16 years old, and I can't remember if she is technically a pony or just past the height designation for a horse. Anyway, somewhere around 14.2 hh.

The person that owns her just had a baby and then a few months later started nursing school, so she has absolutely no time to see her. Needless to say, she hadn't been ridden in a while and was getting a little chunky. She offered to teach me how to ride her so that someone she trusted would be able to keep her in riding shape. I've been dying to learn how to ride so I of course took her up on the offer.

My first riding lesson did not go so well. I was comfortable on the horse, but I was having a hard time controlling her direction. I kept confusing her by using the left rein and left leg at the same time or vice versa. Eventually she got annoyed with my confusion and started to back up. Never being in that situation (obviously) I wasn't sure what to do and I think I unconsciously pulled back on the reins a little bit and she reared up and threw me off backwards. No injuries, just banged my elbow and knee together at impact and had to shake it off. I really wanted to get back on her, but I think her owner was a bit embarassed and called it quits for the day. I've heard that that's not a great thing to do because the last thing the horse will remember is that throwing me off works if she doesn't feel like being ridden that day. 

Ever since that day, I've been going out to see her everyday and working on my grooming skills. I have to admit the simple things that you have to do to care for a horse are quite exciting to me at the moment. Today was the first time I cleaned her hooves and it was a thrill to have such a huge animals feet in my hands.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow because I am learning how to lunge her so that I can do that everytime I go out there to work some of her weight off. Unfortunately nursing school has taken up all of her owners' time and I haven't had a riding lesson since, but others at the vet office have offered to help. 

I think that Flicka is starting to respect me a little more each day. She knows I'm new and screws with me sometimes, but each day I get more confident and I think that it's getting through to her that I'm not going away. She's my new buddy. The owner has offered to let me foster her, so for the next two years she is in school she's basically going to be cared for by me!

I'm looking forward to learning all that I can about these magnificent creatures. This forum has been very informative, any tips would be appreciated. 

I question whether or not I should learn to ride on this horse. I'm not easily discouraged, so I don't think her testing me will be a problem, because I won't give up. Some have said she's a good horse to learn on because once I can ride her I'll be able to ride most other horses. The other way to go would be to learn on an easier horse and apply what I learn to riding Flicka. I am partial to learning on Flicka, first of all because I feel very comfortable around her and am beginning to feel a bond with her, and second I think once I learn to ride her it will be a huge boost in confidence. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated. I'll try to keep this updated.


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## ChingazMyBoy (Apr 16, 2009)

Good luck and keep up the good work.


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