# Chase the Wind - I Will Ride



## NavigatorsMom (Jan 9, 2012)

Welcome! Sundae looks so cute  I look forward to reading about your journey!


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Welcome! I'm in Vermont- if you ever need more horse time and you're close, let me know. Three short and round Morgans here! :grin:


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

Welcome! I'm in western Mass, and have another short and (presently) round Morgan plus a 12.2 pony. There are more short horses around here to borrow if you are in the area. @egrogan and I are trail riders mainly.


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## Knave (Dec 16, 2015)

Welcome! Your pony is beautiful. With your height you make her look a lot bigger. I like short horses too, but they do look tiny under me. My Bones is only 14.3, and I look massive on him. I just started with a big big colt, and he makes me look a lot daintier. Lol. It wouldn’t matter to me anyways, as most around here ride smaller horses, but for some reason I notice and appreciate the feeling. 

I wish you the best of luck in your journey and I look forward to reading it.


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## CopperLove (Feb 14, 2019)

You two look so good together.  Although I know it's not terribly uncommon, I'm still excited every time I see someone who says they started riding in their 20's (also mid-twenties here and just started my journey in December of last year.) Best of luck with grad school! It is hard work but an exciting time in life.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

egrogan said:


> Welcome! I'm in Vermont- if you ever need more horse time and you're close, let me know. Three short and round Morgans here! :grin:


Thanks! I'm a tad far from Vermont, but I really appreciate the offer. I'm in love with Vermont though.  My husband and I camp in Coolidge State Park about once a year!


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

Hmm...I'm trying to figure out the multi-quote feature so I don't have to respond to each post separately, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'll try tagging. 

Thanks @NavigatorsMom for the welcome! 
@Avna - Thanks! Western MA is certainly a bit closer than Vermont (I realize I'm slowly giving away hints at my state. I figured I'd say New England since states in NE are so small and I didn't necessarily want to "out" myself - haha.) I may have to reach out to you some time. I really want to get into trail riding, as it would combine two things I adore - being out on the trails (hiking) and riding.
@CopperLove - Thanks so much for saying we look good together. When I'm on her next to another adult on a horse, I realize I definitely stand out, but hey, that can be a good thing. I wish I could have gotten into riding earlier, and learned when I was a fearless kid (like how I skied black diamond slopes when I was 5...). But 20 is a nice time too, since I can make all of my own decisions around riding.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

IRideaHippogriff said:


> Hmm...I'm trying to figure out the multi-quote feature so I don't have to respond to each post separately, but it doesn't seem to be working. I'll try tagging.



First, hit the multi-quote button on each post you want to include. It looks "highlighted."


When you've hit multi-quote on all that you want, then hit "quote" once and they will all appear in the text box.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

egrogan said:


> First, hit the multi-quote button on each post you want to include. It looks "highlighted."
> 
> 
> When you've hit multi-quote on all that you want, then hit "quote" once and they will all appear in the text box.


Wow, thanks! That's simple.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

Knave said:


> Welcome! Your pony is beautiful. With your height you make her look a lot bigger. I like short horses too, but they do look tiny under me. My Bones is only 14.3, and I look massive on him. I just started with a big big colt, and he makes me look a lot daintier. Lol. It wouldn’t matter to me anyways, as most around here ride smaller horses, but for some reason I notice and appreciate the feeling.
> 
> I wish you the best of luck in your journey and I look forward to reading it.


Thanks! I guess there are good parts of being short.


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

If you ever do hit the trails you'll find that being a short person on a short horse has advantages over other combos, in forested terrain.


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## RidingWithRuby (Apr 18, 2019)

Welcome to the forum! Love the Harry Potter reference, by the way. 😉 You and Sundae look lovely together! I can relate to short person struggles. I'm 5'2 and ride 16h (ish) horses. It is such a struggle to saddle, haha. But oh, you feel so tall when you're cantering along on a massive horse.

Oh, and not all kids are fearless. 😉 I was riding a horse commonly used for gymkhana on Tuesday. His extended trot was comparable to my usual steed's canter. Scared the bejeebles out of me. How was I supposed to post when he was going fast enough I was boinging around like a rubber bouncy ball? :'D

Good luck with grad school!


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## RidingWithRuby (Apr 18, 2019)

*I should say welcome back, lurker. 😉


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

RidingWithRuby said:


> Welcome to the forum! Love the Harry Potter reference, by the way. 😉 You and Sundae look lovely together! I can relate to short person struggles. I'm 5'2 and ride 16h (ish) horses. It is such a struggle to saddle, haha. But oh, you feel so tall when you're cantering along on a massive horse.
> 
> Oh, and not all kids are fearless. 😉 I was riding a horse commonly used for gymkhana on Tuesday. His extended trot was comparable to my usual steed's canter. Scared the bejeebles out of me. How was I supposed to post when he was going fast enough I was boinging around like a rubber bouncy ball? :'D
> 
> Good luck with grad school!


Thanks for the welcome! There is certainly something to be said about feeling that tall/powerful on a tall horse. Maybe once I get my confidence up on ponies and I try something taller again, I'll be able to appreciate that more.

I should probably also clarify I'm still a bit of ways away from grad school itself - but I will definitely need that good luck. My plan is to apply this winter in order to start in Fall 2020, but the saving up and paying off my undergrad loans has already started, thus it is already effecting how much I ride.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Two*

As my lessons are on Thursdays, this will be my first lesson update. And let me just say - I felt like I was floating on my drive home from my lesson yesterday because I not only did I achieve a bit of a milestone, but felt like I finally “grasped” something that I hadn’t before.

To start, the forecast called for rain in the area at 7PM - the time of my lesson. This season, I only began riding outside last week (no arena lights and rain for the past month meant inside lessons only). I had no expectations of being able to ride outside, but when I arrived at the barn the sky was partly cloudy and the lesson before me was outside! The lesson preceding mine is a group lesson of 3 advanced riders, and they were working on what looked like a fun course.

Sundae was in a rather good mood for a pony mare , and I got to use her sparkly pink fly bonnet for the first time which - might I say - made her even cuter than usual. (I should have taken a picture - I will have to get better with that.) She didn’t seem to love it, though, as she kept shaking it off before I situated it under her bridle. I’m sure she appreciates not having bugs fly in her ears...

My lesson started normally, with constant internal reminders to myself, “hands down, legs back”, which for the most part seemed successful, meeting mostly with “goods” while warming up walk and trot. My trainer put about half of the jumps down into ground poles, forming a course of 4 ground poles - 2 sets of broken lines. She asked if I’d done broken lines before - I had, and she was pretty pleased with how I handled them at the trot. Sundae has a good pep in her step.

We began to warm up at the canter. Sundae was balking a little (this is usual - she wants to be asked correctly) but I got her going with a little more leg and sitting back. Left lead canter was lovely. I often struggle with balance at right lead canter on any horse - something about that movement to the right always make me feel like I’m sliding to the right. Last week, I even had a problem where my right shoulder was leaning forward. Honestly, though, I felt more balanced on the right lead canter yesterday than any other ride recently, and my trainer didn’t say anything about my shoulder.

What we did focus on, though, was my rein contact at the canter. Sundae is ridden with constant rein contact with her bit, so I need to be cognizant of moving with her, especially at the canter, so I neither lose contact nor pull on her too hard. I have been actively working on keeping my hands and elbows flexible to move forward with her forward motion. 

However, although my hands/elbows were remaining flexible with the first step of canter, my trainer noticed my hands were then staying forward too long, creating a “loop” in the reins on each second step of canter and losing my rein contact. My trainer took the time to explain this from a technical perspective, and the issues it was causing. Combining the technical understanding with practice works so well for me, and we did a few arena laps where I was able to start to feel the difference. I probably only “got it” for a couple of strides at a time, but that’s a start! It really clicked once I knew why and how to fix it.

It was then time to try the broken lines course at the canter! I’m still extremely new to doing ground poles courses at the canter. At my old barn I was usually only cantering a single line of two poles, no lead changes required. I did courses from trot. I’ve improved a lot since then, though, especially in confidence and in fitness level (will be addressed in a separate post), so I’ve started doing courses from canter about a month ago. It went fine, despite breaking into trot a couple of times and taking a little long to switch leads.

“Okay, take a break at the walk.” As I was catching my breath, I was feeling pretty good, and enjoying the sun and trees - not so much noticing what my trainer was doing. She asked me to pick my canter back up and do it again, and it was only upon circling and approaching my first ground pole that I noticed she turned one of the ground poles into a crossrail - obviously not high but high enough I knew Sundae would pop over it at the canter.

As I started to psyche myself out (one of the reasons I knew my trainer didn’t talk to me about what was going to happen), I asked a million questions - “Am I going over that green one (the one that had become a crossrail)? Should I go into half seat?” My trainer calmly told me to essentially let Sundae do the work and follow her motion. And you know what - I did. I felt my seat naturally lighten as she went over, and I felt my legs comfortably keep me balanced as we hit the ground on the other side, where I went back to sitting. 

I had done small crossrails from trot before, and always felt at least a little unbalanced when I landed. But yesterday, I didn’t feel unbalanced at all. I felt just...wonderful, so connected with Sundae and my own body.

In the meantime, Sundae would occasionally surge forward (she’s a little jumper pony - she’s got pep when she’s having fun, you should see her do barrel racing), and my trainer reminded me to keep rein contact and collect her before the crossrails - explaining if I didn’t collect her she would over-jump to levels I wouldn’t feel ready for. My own self-preservation made this part rather easy, actually, but I still needed and appreciated the reminders along each line. Clearly, this relates to working on rein contact in my flatwork canter as previously noted.

My trainer then turned a second ground pole into crossrails, so the broken line course became 1) ground pole 2) crossrail -change lead- 3) ground pole 4) crossrail. You guys - I felt like I was on cloud 9 - everything clicked! We ended the lesson after a good run, and I was sure to give Sundae some extra love and grass-grazing time becauses she took such good care of me.

*TL;DR Takeaways:
*FANTASTIC lesson.
I got to ride outside despite rain initially being forecasted. (Outside riding > inside).
I’m working on maintaining rein contact at the canter - keep hands/elbows flexible, but don’t leave them forward too long and essentially “throw away the reins”.
When cantering courses, I need to focus on keeping Sundae from breaking to trot and remembering to switch leads.
I popped over small crossrails from canter for the first time, and it felt AMAZING!
I shouldn’t throw my reins away before jumps, or Sundae will take off and over-jump. (Otherwise, she has a really dainty jump - just as high and far as needed!)


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Good, sounds like a good lesson.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Three
*
Let me tell you a little bit about my short riding history.

My riding as a child was limited. I may have been one or two pony rides, and I admired a nearby mansion that had horses on their property, but I have only one vivid memory of actual riding, and it was an all-around bad experience. 

In 1997 on a family vacation to Florida, my mom, dad, 2 older sisters, and I went to a horse ranch in Florida for a short riding experience. We were told “here are the reins, kick to go” , put on horses (SANS HELMETS!) and essentially let loose for an hour in a large, fenced-in ring that included a small patch through some trees. We had no guide or instructions - maybe someone was watching but, if so, he didn’t speak up enough to be memorable. 

Here is a breakdown of the experience:


At one point I kicked to try to walk forward and the horse took off at a trot. To 7-year-old me this felt like a full-on gallop and I held on for dear life while screaming.
My horse was a kicker and, while my dad was trying to watch out for me, my horse kicked him in the leg, leaving a massive bruise.
My horse trotted me through the trees. (I am not going to pretend I was ever in control.) I hit my head (not too hard) on a low branch and lost my Hello Kitty bandana and started sobbing.

I don’t remember much else about that ride. These days, I’m livid about the business practices of that barn, but I guess the 90s were a different time?

My one childhood riding experience was so poor that my mom was honestly shocked that I took up riding as an adult. But, in May 2015 I was in my mid-20s and found myself without a hobby I was passionate about. Soon to be married and recently having moved between states, I needed something for me. Horse riding popped into my head one day. I found a local barn and signed up for a lesson. The barn was very low-key, with a very small arena, 2 Morgans used as lesson horses, and one trainer who owned the property. 

Although I eventually left to a barn with an indoor and lease opportunities, I absolutely loved that little barn, and the rest is history... 

I leave you with a picture of me on one of the Morgans in 2015.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Four*

I had a nice lesson yesterday. I know they can’t all be as spectacular and full of epiphanies and “firsts” like I had last week! But, it was an enjoyable lesson. Sundae was in a great mood with a decent forward step. The lesson was held inside due to chilly weather and the chance of rain. 

The activity of the day was a straight line of 4 poles, intended to have 2 trot or 1 canter stride between each. It was a surprisingly difficult! My trainer noted that lengthening Sundae’s stride is a challenge, and we only did it correctly probably about 2 times at trot and once at canter (surprisingly, that was on the right lead, which is usually both Sundae and I’s worse side). It often seemed like Sundae was barely picking her feet up over the poles and several times I would slightly cringe at the sound as we hit each one.

My trainer had me count my strides approaching and through the line, which helped me in 2 ways: 1) By counting and making it technical, my brain couldn’t focus on the “what if” Sundae trips over one of the poles and I fall (a fear I have since I used to feel so unbalanced cantering poles) and 2) I was getting the feel of distances before and between poles.

I’m still marvelling at how far I’ve come in a couple months at my confidence to canter. I used to legitimately fear circling to approach poles, especially on the right lead, but now I do it without a second thought.

We reviewed rein contact at the canter. I had some time before my lesson to watch the advanced riders in the lesson before me, with a focus on how they managed their rein contact to try to mimic it. I’m still really struggling to maintain proper rein contact at all beats of the canter. The problem is - it looks so natural when I watch others, and feels so clunky when I try. 

*TL;DR Takeaways:*

No epiphanies or “firsts”, but a fun lesson.
Worked on a line of 4 trot/canter poles.
Need to work at lengthening Sundae’s trot.
Continue to need to work on rein contact at canter.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Five*

It was 80 degrees with the sun beating down - an early summer has arrived! I had an extremely fun lesson leaving me with plenty to work on. It was one of the first days I arrived and thought Sundae possibly looked happy to see me. (I love her, but generally she seems a bit put-out when I take her away from her hay.) I could be projecting, but I think she’s starting to not think of me as the terribly unbalanced adult beginner giving her confusing cues.

The activity of the day was a course that is too difficult to describe without a picture, consisting of 4 jumps with 2 quite tight turns. This was the first time my trainer started the jumps as cross rails instead of ground poles AND it was my first time doing an entire course of cross rails (last time it was 2 cross rails, 2 ground poles). I think that shows a level of trust in my improved abilities that I am proud of. 

Sundae’s owner was watching and taking pictures and videos for me. I appreciate it and she is incredibly kind, though it tends to get into my head a little; I’m nervous if I don’t do well, or don’t support Sundae correctly in my riding, she won’t want me riding her. Honestly - she has never once given me that impression, and has told me twice recently that she likes me riding Sundae, so it’s a very positive relationship.

I did better with my rein contact at canter! I was thrilled that’s starting to improve. My first few times around the course I didn’t keep Sundae moving and she broke into trot right before the cross rails - I definitely need more length strength for that. Also, on one or two of the cross rails I felt that I leaned forward a little too far - I didn’t actually lose balance and my trainer didn’t point it out, but I felt it, so I will work on that. My last time around the course was quite good, and I had a blast.

*TL;DR Takeaways:
*
My rein contact at canter improved at this lesson.
I need to stop feeling anxious when Sundae’s awesome owner is watching.
I need to improve my leg strength and keep Sundae going at canter.
I think I have the “jumping bug” - I have an indescribable amount of fun - it’s an absolute blast.
*Feel free to critique the photos with tips on improving my position!*


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## NavigatorsMom (Jan 9, 2012)

Love reading your updates! You and Sundae look very cute together.  I know what you mean about being a little nervous when Sundae's owner is watching you ride, it's hard not to - but you look like you're doing really well and it's great that you have such a good relationship with her!


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

NavigatorsMom said:


> Love reading your updates! You and Sundae look very cute together.  I know what you mean about being a little nervous when Sundae's owner is watching you ride, it's hard not to - but you look like you're doing really well and it's great that you have such a good relationship with her!


Thanks! I'm pretty lucky - I can't imagine a nicer person than Sundae's owner is.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Six*

I know they can’t all be wonderful. As with any sport, there are great days, good days, so-so days, bad days, and terrible days. I would rate yesterday’s lesson as somewhere between so-so and bad. The weather was cold and rainy, not at all like a summer day, and after an exhausting week preceded by a weekend with no down time, I wasn’t in the best mindset.

I was pleased to see Sundae, though, and for my weekly chance to ride. While brushing her I noticed she was a little sore on one side, where she didn’t even want to be gently brushed. She also seemed particularly moody. I encountered this before with her and I’m pretty sure she was having ovulating/cycle pains. (I did let my trainer know just in case.) I tried to bribe Sundae with some hay and gentle petting, but her mood just worsened with girthing. 

After I finished checking her girth one last time before mounting, she reached around and bit my upper thigh. She does often get a bit rude during girthing from years of being a lesson pony, but usually I keep her under control; I just missed it this time. It hurt, but I was more embarrassed than anything else and didn’t want to let the other riders in the arena know what happened, so I just gritted my teeth and mounted. I have a nasty bruise today, but no broken skin.

No jumping yesterday - probably for the best between my mindset and Sundae’s moodiness. We worked on leg yielding from the quarter line to the wall at trot. My trainer noticed I lack some flexibility in my legs making it difficult for me to reach back with my inside leg to ask for the leg yield, so she had me stop and do some mounted leg stretches, which were interesting and eye-opening. The hardest one for me included stretching both legs from the thigh away from the saddle at the same time without leaning forward or back. I struggled a lot with this exercise, which made me feel a bit incompetent, but reflecting on it I can see the value of the stretch.

We added canter so that the exercise became 1) trot down the quarter line 2) leg yield to the wall 3) pick up the canter at the wall 4) canter down the other side of the arena 5) transition to trot before the quarter line. I do enjoy technical exercises like this, though I had a lot of trouble with my canter transition - it would take me until I was about halfway down the short side of the arena to pick it up, whereas it was supposed to be instantly once I hit the wall from my leg yield. Partially I think it’s because I had Sundae’s head turned a little to the outside when leg yielding so I knew I needed to re-position her to get the correct lead, and partially I just felt unbalanced and slow. Sundae needed my “A game” with her discomfort, and I just didn’t deliver.

When leaving the arena, I was having some trouble with getting Sundae moved over to give me enough room to close the gate behind me. My trainer became a little critical that I was being too gentle with her, and ended up having to come over and push her over because I was taking too long. After feeling like I was receiving so much criticism during my lesson, and ending with even more criticism once dismounted, I just felt so down on myself. 

I’m glad for this journal giving me a chance to reflect on the positives from the lesson and also the “why” behind not feeling so great, as I can see that all of the not-so-great stuff is both useful and things I can and should work on.

*TL;DR Takeaways:
*
They can’t all be great; this one wasn’t.
Sundae was feeling mare-ish, and I was stressed from an exhausting week.
I will be working on some mounted leg stretches to improve my flexibility and balance.
I need to ask for and get good behavior when dismounted (respecting my space, standing, moving over).


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

It's a good ideal to do regular stretching to help with riding. Works for me.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Seven*

Hello again, readers! I admit I’ve been off a bit from my reliable weekly update, but it was for an excellent reason. My husband and I took a vacation to Iceland, which exceeded all of my expectations. From waterfalls to craters, hot springs to the midnight sun, the entire trip was breathtaking - but one element of the trip surpassed all others: the Icelandic Horse.

My heart has been captured; I’m completely enamored. Horses in every color graze on acres and acres of tall green grass across the entire country. I lost count. And they’re somehow both strikingly gorgeous and utterly adorable at the same time. Fortunately, I had scheduled a trail ride that ended up one of the most fun experiences I’ve had in my life. 

Our trail ride was with the company Hella Horse Rental, which I picked specifically as many positive reviews noted this wasn’t a nose-to-tail trail ride (which I had once through an Italian vineyard and, while lovely, is dull for actual riders.) The trail ride group consisted of myself, my husband (inexperienced), and another family of 3 who owned horses years ago, but hadn’t ridden recently. Our guide was an Icelandic horse trainer from Denmark, who is spending some time working with and learning from the family who owns the stable.

After learning I was the only experienced rider in the group, she paired me with a bay gelding named Njáll (pronounced NYALT). I later learned that while Njáll is considered saintly and usually paired with beginner children, he had been off-work for 8 weeks and I was his first rider after the break. After a brief demonstration on rein control, we mounted from the ground. Although Njáll is well under 14 hands, this was a bit amusing and challenging for me, as my leg really lacked the proper strength to lift the rest of my body up. It took me about 3 or 4 bouncing tries but I finally managed. And oh the saddle! The Icelandic saddle had the closeness of an English saddle with extra secure and cushion-y leg rolls - I could live in it!

While the other riders mounted, Njáll started to call out to one of his friends in a nearby paddock and started to jig a little impatiently. I walked him around in the limited space we had. When we left the gate, though, Njáll decided to balk and tried to turn and walk back - showing distinct herd-bound behavior. The rest of the riders made it a good 25 ft ahead of me as I worked to get him turned back around. He wasn’t sensitive to my leg pressure at all, and I had to resort to kicking him forward, which took a deeply embarrassing minute or two. Finally, we rejoined the group and I found he was more willing to keep moving forward towards the front of the group.

We didn’t have to stay in a line - the only rule was to not pass our guide, so we had freedom to change pace and steer. The landscape was interesting and varied, with lava fields, flowers, small water crossings, and hills. By a few minutes into the ride, Njáll was forwarding and willing, although he did occasionally call out. I could tell he is a strong, excited boy. 

About ten minutes in, after making sure everyone was comfortable and confident, we got to try the tölt. If you’re unfamiliar, this is a gait unique to Icelandics. Similar in speed to a trot, the tölt is a four-beat lateral gait and *extremely* comfortable to sit to. I can’t describe it well enough to do it justice, but let me say I absolutely loved it. We walked and tölted intermittently, and up one rather steep hill, even galloped for a stride or two (my first ever gallop!) The hour ride went by oh-so-fast, and dismounting Njáll was heart-wrenching.

So. I can’t stop thinking about Icelandics. I didn’t have cell service during my vacation until I got to the airport for my return flight, and the first thing I started Googling was how to import an Icelandic and Icelandics for sale in America. I’ve convinced myself I want an Icelandic.


I know this is impractical. (I like to show hunt seat; no trainers within two hours would know how to train for riding Icelandics. I’ve just started jumping; Icelandics aren’t really jumpers). 
I know this is rash. (Okay - not really rash; it would take me at least a year and a half to save for a very well-broke, safe riding Icelandic, which would also give me plenty of time to continue to think it through.) 
I know this would be a huge life decision (Due to the time and financial commitment of a horse, it would mean choosing to stay in my current career path instead of going to grad school and transitioning paths).

But, on the other hand, I just got the biggest promotion of my career so far effective July 1st. While my income is still humble, I may be able to budget a horse if I switched to a cheaper barn for boarding.

Anyway, I have no answer on if this obsession will amount to anything. Maybe I’ll look on this post in a few years and laugh at the absurdity. 

I leave you with a few pictures from my trail ride.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

I know there was a breeder here in California. It would at least be fun to contact any breeder here in the U.S. You never know what may turn up. There are a few Icelandics around here, but they are pretty rare.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

whisperbaby22 said:


> I know there was a breeder here in California. It would at least be fun to contact any breeder here in the U.S. You never know what may turn up. There are a few Icelandics around here, but they are pretty rare.


It certainly would be fun! I'm following several Icelandic farms in the New England area on Facebook now just to keep tabs. There is a precious gelding up for sale just a year or two too early for me. (Also, I've always preferred mares.) :lol: I also might need to stop by Equine Affaire in November - Icelandics are always represented at the breed pavilion. 

I'd have a whole lot of other things to do to prepare if I decide to go this route now, such as learning horse care and some basic training skills (I wish there were a Pony Club for adults!), and finding a lower priced boarding barn and making connections there (I wouldn't want to jump right in with a new horse without taking some lessons there and getting to know them). 

For the past couple years my horse experience has been limited to grooming, tacking, and riding, so I'd want to start becoming an all-around horsewoman. 

Clearly I've been thinking about this a little - haha. I'm an obsessive planner, and I'd want to do it right.

Another thing about choosing a gaited horse - I wonder if it'd be difficult to ever part-lease or allow the horse to be used in a lesson program if I wanted them to get more exercise or for financial reasons. While this wouldn't be my initial intention, I'd like knowing it could be a possibility, but with gaited horses being rare around here, I wonder if that'd be a barrier. (Overthinking...?)


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## MeditativeRider (Feb 5, 2019)

Cute Icelandics! They are fun aren't they. I rode one on a horse trek too (not in Iceland, just NZ, your trek in Iceland looks amazing). I love their manes and forelocks and the tolt, it just made me laugh out loud it was so fun.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

You probably are already aware of this place. My friend spent a week there and had a wonderful time. She said all the horses were fabulous and she had so much fun.

https://www.icelandichorses.com/aboutus.php


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

MeditativeRider said:


> Cute Icelandics! They are fun aren't they. I rode one on a horse trek too (not in Iceland, just NZ, your trek in Iceland looks amazing). I love their manes and forelocks and the tolt, it just made me laugh out loud it was so fun.


I bet the trek in New Zealand was amazing! I can imagine riding an Icelandic through that landscape would be stunning as well. I had the most massive grin on my face every time we got to tölt - I probably seemed silly. 



knightrider said:


> You probably are already aware of this place. My friend spent a week there and had a wonderful time. She said all the horses were fabulous and she had so much fun.
> 
> https://www.icelandichorses.com/aboutus.php


Thanks! They were one of the first Icelandic farms I was aware of near me (I think they come up first in Google  ) - I had actually considered going on a ride with them before I even knew I loved Icelandics. They have some mixed reviews so it's great hearing your friend has a good time. I'll definitely have to make it over there.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

knightrider said:


> You probably are already aware of this place. My friend spent a week there and had a wonderful time. She said all the horses were fabulous and she had so much fun.
> 
> https://www.icelandichorses.com/aboutus.php



YES! I have friends who have ridden there, and had a blast. They have a good reputation for making their treks a fun experience for horse people and non-horse people alike (my old riding buddy and her daughter have had horses for years and loved riding there, and took their non-horsey husband/father/son and the guys also enjoyed it). I've never gotten up there but it's a bucket list sort of thing. @IRideaHippogriff- if you decide to go up there for a trail ride, let me know and maybe we can have a mini Horse Forum meet-up as I've been looking for an excuse to check it out :grin:


I used to volunteer at a therapeutic riding program in North Carolina, and the physical therapist there had an Icelandic as her personal riding horse but also used him in hippotherapy lessons. He was a real character- personality plus, but also very trustworthy with young riders who had physical disabilities.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

egrogan said:


> YES! I have friends who have ridden there, and had a blast. They have a good reputation for making their treks a fun experience for horse people and non-horse people alike (my old riding buddy and her daughter have had horses for years and loved riding there, and took their non-horsey husband/father/son and the guys also enjoyed it). I've never gotten up there but it's a bucket list sort of thing. @IRideaHippogriff- if you decide to go up there for a trail ride, let me know and maybe we can have a mini Horse Forum meet-up as I've been looking for an excuse to check it out :grin:
> 
> 
> I used to volunteer at a therapeutic riding program in North Carolina, and the physical therapist there had an Icelandic as her personal riding horse but also used him in hippotherapy lessons. He was a real character- personality plus, but also very trustworthy with young riders who had physical disabilities.


Thanks for sharing that your friends enjoyed riding there - that's definitely sold me on making it up there for a ride. It's about a 4-hour drive for me without traffic and pit stops, but I could do a long day trip; maybe with the aim for early Fall or there could be value in waiting for the Fall foliage. (Even though I'm from New England I'm still blown away by the Fall colors every year.)

So - I'll let you know if we decide to make it up there! (We typically camp in Vermont at least once a summer, but my dog comes along and we wouldn't have anything to do with him while riding, so it'd have to be on a different trip.)


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Eight*

Back to reality for a bit. I’ve put my dreams of owning an Icelandic horse aside for now - recognizing that this tumultuous time in my life of major transitions including my promotion at work is not the best time to be making major life decisions. Grad school and horse ownership are still both on the table for my upcoming path. I’ll continue to admire Icelandic horses through some Facebook groups I’ve joined, and - as discussed above - hope to make it up to Vermont for an Icelandic trail ride within the next couple of months.

I’m going to be brief on my lesson update from yesterday. It was great to get back to the barn and Sundae, but Sundae got a big bite out of my arm while I was trying to slowly girth her. This was the worst of the total of 3 bites I’ve had from her in the few years I’ve ridden her because she got my bare skin since I was wearing short sleeves. I think I naively believed slowly girthing her on the cross-ties would prevent any major outbursts, and let my guard down.

I’ve never heard she shows this extreme girthiness with other riders, and my trainer is also a professional saddle fitter. While she regularly comments my saddle isn’t great for me, she approved it for use on Sundae. Since pain seems to be off the table as the issue, I now honestly have been letting it get to my head that maybe this is personal - maybe Sundae legitimately doesn’t want me to ride her. Anyway - in the moment it happened I thought I was going to end up in the ER with a chunk out of my arm, but she thank goodness didn’t break the skin - just scraped and bruised it. The mark takes up about half of my arm and hurts like a…

I still forced myself to enjoy my lesson. We did the same exercise I outlined a month or so ago - leg yielding from quarter line to wall at trot, pick up canter at wall. It was overall decent but not particularly memorable. I think I’m craving more lately...more than just this one short lesson a week with somewhat repetitive exercises. I may need to change things up a bit, but I’m not sure how without breaking the bank.


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I don't see it that way as a horse isn't going to make anything personal. What they will do is put you in your place which is beneath them if you haven't established it is ahead of them in the pecking order. I see this as a challenge of authority. You let your guard down and she took advantage. While I do agree with taking time to girth and not just jerking a girth up one can take too much time and drag it out. Be aware, attentive and diligent about the task at hand and get it over and done. When I have a horse that threatens when being girthed. I'll place my hand closest to the head on the saddle and use that hand to lift the flap, elbow in position (out to the side parallel to the ground) so if the head comes around all I have to do is drop the flap and slide it toward the face. They effectively run into it and correct themselves.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Yes, this is not personal, it's the horse trying to test you.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

QtrBel said:


> I don't see it that way as a horse isn't going to make anything personal. What they will do is put you in your place which is beneath them if you haven't established it is ahead of them in the pecking order. I see this as a challenge of authority. You let your guard down and she took advantage. While I do agree with taking time to girth and not just jerking a girth up one can take too much time and drag it out. Be aware, attentive and diligent about the task at hand and get it over and done. When I have a horse that threatens when being girthed. I'll place my hand closest to the head on the saddle and use that hand to lift the flap, elbow in position (out to the side parallel to the ground) so if the head comes around all I have to do is drop the flap and slide it toward the face. They effectively run into it and correct themselves.





whisperbaby22 said:


> Yes, this is not personal, it's the horse trying to test you.


Thank you so much for the reminder that it isn't personal - both of you. I logically know not to anthropomorphize, but let my emotions get the better of me. It was helpful to hear it.

I'll improve and work on the way I girth to make sure she can't take advantage of the situation. I've come a long way from the complete hesitant pushover I used to be, but still have a lot to learn!


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Nine*

I’m a little late on my lesson update from last Thursday. Despite heavy rain forcing the lesson inside, it was fun! Work has been exponentially more stressful this month and I have had trouble unwinding from the stress once I get home. Being at the barn allowed me to feel more relaxed and normal than I had all week.

Sundae was in a good mood. She did turn around and threaten to snap during girthing, but as soon as she noticed I was paying attention and wouldn’t allow her to bite, she stopped reaching her neck around. That’s just what I’ll always need - constant vigilance. 

When I saw the activity I honestly didn’t think the lesson would go so well: a series of 10 trot poles all in one line! Sundae and I struggle with 4-5 trot poles in a line because she has trouble lengthening her trot. I can get her to speed up her trot decently, but not lengthen. However- after a few times through of sounding like a percussion ensemble, hitting every pole on the way, it just clicked. We may have hit one or two, but Sundae developed a very succinct, almost skipping-like trot, that was an absolute blast to ride. We did it very well a handful of times on both sides, and I felt that we made some progress.

In the meantime this week, I created an itemized monthly horse budget - just for the heck of it. Some of them were very rough estimates, I’m sure, but a decent, on the inflated side, jumping off point. After I finish paying off my undergrad loans at the end of August, I’m going to see if I can comfortably “put away” the amount I calculated each month. Even if I choose grad school, I need to save either way. If I choose a horse, it will turn into a very nice horse budget by a year and a half from now, and it will prove whether or not I feel comfortable spending that much.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Ten*

My trainer was away last week, so instead of my normal lesson I had a free ride on Saturday. I have to say this was a blessing, because it gave me some freedom to work on some things I hadn’t worked on in awhile, and since the free ride has no real time limit, I was finally able to be in the saddle for over 30 minutes (which always feels more like a tease than a ride I can be content with since it’s the only riding time I have in the entire week.)

My husband came with me as he hadn’t watched me ride in a while, and I wanted him to film me so I could review my position. (I’m actually not going to share any videos because wow - those breeches are extremely unflattering . I’m embarrassed I’ve worn them for years!) He’s an amazingly great/supportive horse husband and, after I put down my tack, I found him by Sundae’s paddock talking sweetly to her. 

Sundae was an absolute dream! She was extremely sweet and rather responsive. Although it didn’t feel too hot, it was very humid, so I took it rather easy. I worked on steering, circling, and switching diagonals, posting without stirrups, and posting trot-sitting trot-jump position. I only cantered for about 5 minutes - a couple of times in each direction. I could tell other riders were taking it easy in the humidity, so I did the same.

After about a 40 minute ride, I took off her saddle and rode a little walk/trot bareback for around 10-15 minutes. I cannot even explain how comfortable Sundae is bareback - more comfortable than saddled. It was fun to try to find my balance without the saddle. We cooled down together before I took her in for a shower.

So - truly lovely ride. It really reinforced that I would be happier with some time to ride on my own out of lessons. I’m eyeing a much more affordable barn that gives lessons both in an arena and on trails, but holding myself back for now. It’s much more of a hike (35 minutes from work, 45-50 from home), and I don’t want to earn reputation of jumping around between barns. I may try it out without leaving my current barn though - we will see.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Eleven
*

It’s time to update my journal with the major changes I made in my horse-life this month. Re-reading my past few journal updates, I’m not surprised - it was clear that I was at a crossroads and my 30-minute-a-week lesson wasn’t cutting it. There were a couple of key happenings over the past 2 weeks that led to me deciding to switch things up:

Over the past few months, I noticed my instructor taking my lessons a little less seriously. (I truly respect and appreciate her, so this isn’t intended to be critical of her personally. I doubt this was intentional.) It was little things: no new lesson activities for weeks, talking with someone from her previous lesson for the first 5-10 minutes of my 30 minute lesson, sitting down outside of the arena instead of being with me and engaged in the arena the way she is with the lesson before mine, never once adjusting the tall jumps into cross-rails so I could practice since the last time I posted about it (or even communicating as to why, when she knew I loved it the one time I did and wanted to grow in that direction.)

The barn manager (who for the most part runs an excellent program) put another girl in my lesson without even telling me and still charged me for a private lesson.

I was trying to look past the above - but at my last lesson, which was a night before a show and clearly the advanced jumping lesson before mine was exhausting and intense, I went into the arena at 7PM, my lesson time, and my trainer literally didn’t even acknowledge me while talking to the other girls. I just warmed up at a walk and suddenly she turned to me surprised at least 5 minutes later - she had completely forgotten I had a lesson...even though it was my usual lesson time since February.

So, this all left me with a bad taste. Add that to 30 minutes a week just not nearly being enough, my mind started to wander and I was checking out other barns and lease opportunities near me. And suddenly I came across a mare (my favorite!), a versatile confidence builder (what I need!), who can be taken out alone on trails (I want to hack sometimes!) for *half*-lease at a barn rather close at an absurdly low price - the price of a once-a-week-ride lease at the barn I was at.

Oh, and I finished paying off my undergrad loans last week and officially decided I don’t want to rush back into grad school (and more loans) - I refuse to wait until after to really reach the next level (so to speak) in riding.

So, last week I reached out to the horse owner. I quickly scheduled a one-hour lesson as a test ride, and suddenly I’m riding a 15.3 OTTB mare (actually never raced because she flunked out of training, supposedly at Belmont Park in NY, for her exceedingly calm disposition). 

As I posted about in a separate thread, she felt huge and powerful. Her trot is a bit jarring and her canter is ground-covering. Night and day from a 13.2 pleasure pony. But she is also quieter than most geldings, has decent transitions, and a really, really cute face. It will take a lot of time to feel confident on her, but I’m ready for my next adventure.

I sign the lease tomorrow and plan to have my first lease ride on Sunday. I can’t wait to introduce you to *Neshama*!


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

This is great news, enjoy this horse.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twelve*

Well, my half-lease started September 1st - I’ve had two rides so far. Since it will take some time to get to know each other, I’m taking it really easy and slow. But, let me backup and introduce Neshama.

Neshama is a bay OTTB mare, foaled in 2000, which makes her 19. She still has plenty of pep in her step for an older mare, though! She has participated in all of the main English disciplines: dressage, H/J, and eventing. Her owner has a baby at home and no time to ride, so is leasing her to keep her in shape. 

I honestly feel like I’ve hit the jackpot. As I mentioned in my last post, Neshama is much calmer/less hot than the breed stereotype of OTTBs, and has packed around kids and other beginners - she was advertised as a confidence builder. At the same time, though, I’ve been noticing little quirks about her that I think do come from her breeding: perked, aware ears when riding, and sensitivity to my leg with some forwardness at times. 

She has perfect manners, isn’t even the slightest bit girthy (!!), stands still for mounting, lowers her head and stays still for bridling/haltering, and seems to be starting to recognize me when I get her from her pasture. I’ve never *once *seen her pin her ears. Is this real life?

Neshama lives in a large pasture with about 5(?) other bay mares. I was honestly concerned about recognizing her for my first lease ride, but I studied her facial markings in pictures (2 little white stars, 1 white nose snip), and her owner told me to look for the chestnut mare that apparently follows Neshama around. Sure enough, I’ve always found her standing right by the chestnut mare.

The saddle her owner has for her right now is a dressage saddle...and the stirrups are too long. So, that has been interesting. About ten minutes into my first ride I got off, took her back to the cross-ties, and googled how to wrap stirrups to make them shorter, because I was basically riding no-stirrups. (There was also a guy giving pony rides to a gaggle of children and their parents at the same time, which was a little distracting and making me self-conscious as I tried to figure this saddle out.) With each stirrup wrapped twice they are a not-so-terrible length. Her owner says she has a jump saddle I can try, and the barn owner can also evaluate if my own saddle fits. I hope to get this taken care of soon.

In both of my rides I’ve worked on: walk to trot transitions, halt, changing diagonals, circles/inside bend, and a little sitting trot. Her sitting trot feels like being bounced to the moon - complete opposite of Sundae, and I need to get better at it to improve my future trot-canter transitions. I don’t think I’ll ever be good at her sitting trot, or enjoy it, but I did start to notice subtle improvements. 

At my test ride, Neshama took a lot of leg to move forward and I even used a crop, but in my two lease rides, she’s only taken a little/moderate amount of leg. Even though I wouldn’t want to be on a horse that takes off with me, I prefer her being a little more forward instead of feeling like I’m annoying her to make her move (like practically every lesson horse I’ve ever ridden.)

Due to some scheduling conflicts, my first lesson on her isn’t until next Tuesday. I think the weekly lessons will be invaluable to building our confidence as a team and getting that outside feedback on what we need to work on the most - I honestly don't know how I look up there.

My goals for now are very simple and humble: figure out the saddle situation, continue to bond with her so she starts to look forward to seeing me every other day, build my riding confidence on her by taking it easy and working on those transitions, taking her for my first ever hack (probably will have my husband walk with us unless I find someone to ride with), and slowly adding in canter.

Honestly, I feel like my heart has been stolen. Look at that face!


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

What a sweet face! Sounds like a blast, so glad you found this new situation.

Will the owner let you use different leathers on the saddle? That seems like an easier fix than trying different saddles, if the dressage saddle fits you and the horse well. It's a bit of a pain to get the hang of changing leathers out at first, but once you figure it out it shouldn't take you longer than wrapping, which is not great for the original leathers nor particularly comfortable for you. You can find them used pretty cheaply. Whichever route you go, just remember to always reset the leathers to where they were when you got on so the owner doesn't have to fuss with it when she rides.

Keep posting pictures, we love them!


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

She's adorable. Can't wait to read more of your adventures.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

egrogan said:


> What a sweet face! Sounds like a blast, so glad you found this new situation.
> 
> Will the owner let you use different leathers on the saddle? That seems like an easier fix than trying different saddles, if the dressage saddle fits you and the horse well. It's a bit of a pain to get the hang of changing leathers out at first, but once you figure it out it shouldn't take you longer than wrapping, which is not great for the original leathers nor particularly comfortable for you. You can find them used pretty cheaply. Whichever route you go, just remember to always reset the leathers to where they were when you got on so the owner doesn't have to fuss with it when she rides.
> 
> Keep posting pictures, we love them!


Thank you! So the bigger problem actually is that all of my riding so far has been done in AP/close contact saddles. The dressage saddle feels extremely weird and kind of uncomfortable - like it pushes my knees forward against the knee rolls. If I was stuck with the dressage saddle, I guess I could invest in matching leathers (my current leathers are brown, this saddle is black.) However, I do want to try her jumping saddle because those look a lot closer to what I'm used to, plus I'm more interested in improving in hunter/jumper so the dressage saddle wouldn't work for shows.

I definitely know rolling the leathers isn't ideal. I felt uncomfortable doing it on a personal saddle, but wouldn't have been able to ride more than walk without rolling them. I let the owner know, as well, and she didn't tell me to stop, so at least that's okay for now.

She didn't say if she switched out the saddles this week, so I guess I'll see when I go for my ride after work today.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Hippogriff, I can completely relate to feeling out of sorts in a different kind of saddle. For me, it just happens to be the opposite that makes me feel comfortable- I've ridden in a dressage saddle for so long even an AP, and certainly a jump saddle, makes me feel like I'm about to be catapulted over my horse's head. When I was horse shopping a couple of years ago, I got on a couple of horses outfitted in a very forward flap saddle and felt like a rank beginner. I was so worried about simply staying on since I was so out of balance, I really couldn't tell much about how I felt about the horse. Totally understand that's a major weakness in me as a rider, but it's one of those "it is what it is" things at this point. For better or worse (really, for worse...), I'm very comfortable riding the horse I ride in the tack I use, but take me out of that situation and it's tough! It's one of the things that makes me really wish I was one of those kids who grew up riding a ton of different horses in a ton of different tack (or better, no tack at all!) and had the chance to develop that natural, following seat when my body was still willing to do things without tensing up all over.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

So, just an update on the saddle and stirrup situation (not a whole journal post) - the stirrups of the jumping saddle are too long as well, but Neshama's owner did say I can add another hole. I'm also a bit self-conscious about whether or not the saddle is a good fit for me, though, because as I was warming up at a walk, the barn owner commented something like, "that saddle doesn't look too fun". As soon as she said that I got really nervous the saddle might put me too far forward than I'm used to with all purpose saddles and it has extremely minimal knee blocks. The funny thing is - I honestly don't know what she meant, because then she was too busy teaching another lesson for me to ask for clarity.

I also had some issues with the owner not leaving a non-dressage girth for me to use, so I had to ask the barn owner to borrow one. I told Neshama's owner I'd update her how things went with the new saddle tonight, but I'm concerned I might have offended her. In hindsight, I should probably -not- have brought up what the barn owner said about the saddle, but it was on my mind. 

I'm trying to be super humble now to smooth things over, but ultimately I know how important good saddle fit is to both horse and rider. We left it that she would bring a girth I can use on Saturday, and will see if my personal saddle fits. If it does, that will kind of fix things. If not, I might end up having to ride in the jumping saddle that might not be quite secure enough for me for a little while...we will see.

I'm trying to be positive; I just had a painfully stressful day at work, so it was challenging to go to the barn and feel so unsure/uncomfortable with everything. Neshama was an absolute sweetheart though. She may have been looking for treats, but she kind of nuzzled me and it was precious. I hope she's warming up to me.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Thirteen*

While the past week of rides has been a bit mixed, I’ve continued to have a blast and slowly learn a lot more about Neshama. I’ll share some of the highlights:

My saddle didn’t fit, and Neshama’s owner decided to sell the jumper saddle, so I am riding in a dressage saddle for now. The stirrups were a kind with elastic on one side (I’d never seen them before so I don’t know the correct term), and in one of my rides last week the elastic snapped off only about ten minutes into my ride. I couldn’t find the elastic as I was riding in a grassy field, so I made the sad walk back to the cross-ties to message her owner. She said it wasn’t a problem, and we decided together I would use my own leathers and stirrups for now. So, long story short: I’m riding in a black dressage saddle with brown leathers...not exactly show ready, or the right discipline, but on the path to being a lot more comfortable for me.

On Sunday I took my first hack out on the trails! My husband walked with us as I didn’t know how she would behave. She was safe. However, she did try to turn back at least 3 times and it took a struggle and a lot of core strength to turn her back around. She made it very clear she was about to do it, so with that time to react I will just need to learn to drive her forward at the earliest signs. She would suddenly put herself off the path (or as far to one side as she could until she hit trees, or once, a ton of plants with burrs), stop, and slowly angle herself around the wrong way. I was a bit hesitant because I’m still new to her, but each time I sat back in my seat, angled her head back around with the “inside” rein (sort of getting used to how there really is no inside/outside on a straight trail; also I need to balance her on the other rein - one of my weaknesses), and pushed her forward with my legs. I know one of the most important things is to never let her get away with it. I’m debating whether on trails I should bring my crop and use that to drive her forward, but even though she’s never shown signs of bolting, she’s a thoroughbred and I’m terrified of pushing her too hard and getting too much forwardness for me.

We went about 15 minutes out, and about 10 minutes back (quicker with no struggling on the way back). I trotted for a few stretches. Despite the struggles, hacking was such a fun change. I am realizing how much I’ve “spoiled” myself with arena riding in terms of uniform terrain though - little hills and dips in the field and out on the trail use a whole new type of balance that was a real challenge, even just at a walk. I look forward to developing this!

First official lesson tonight! I can’t wait to have someone tell me everything I’m doing wrong with her - honestly. I’m sure it’s a lot.:lol: I’m also hoping to canter - I haven’t wanted to do this alone, and I think the dressage saddle may make it more challenging for me.


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## NavigatorsMom (Jan 9, 2012)

I love reading your journal. Neshama is a lovely mare, I hope you have many good adventures together!  I have a soft spot for TB mares, think they're just awesome and so fun to work with. The first time I rode in my dressage saddle I was a little sore after because it put my legs and seat in such a different spot than what I was used to! You will get comfortable eventually, just takes a while to get used to it.

Can't wait to hear about your lesson!


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Fourteen*

My first lesson with the barn owner - my new instructor - was so interesting and enlightening! One hour also makes all the difference in terms of not feeling rushed. We spent the first ten minutes talking about me: my riding history, my goals, how I feel about Neshama so far, and the saddle issues. 

Then, she asked me to mount and do my usual warm-up while she observed, and said that her goal for the lesson was to help me learn to use a warm-up and to give me some things to work on in my independent rides. After I was warmed up, we talked about what I did with my warm-up and why. My previous instructors had never really discussed this with me, so I told her how I walked in both directions and then trotted, working on getting a consistent pace and feeling the horse start to bend.

She explained I should use the warm-up not to start fixing issues, but to come into each ride with an understanding that the horse could feel completely different that day, and to make myself aware of any issues, such as stiffness and soreness. Since I mentioned bend, she gave me 2 exercises to work on to address bend: serpentine half-circles (not sure that is what it was called, but it created 3 half circles in the arena) and spirals.

We talked about feeling for a horse’s “hollow” and “stiff” sides. I’d never heard that before! I knew about horses having a “good” side, but not that terminology. She had me feel for Neshama’s different sides - I actually got it wrong after doing the serpentine half-circles, but once she told me her right side was stiff, I absolutely could feel it, especially during spirals. She then told me about using the bit to relax the horse’s jaw and, by helping her release tension, allowing Neshama to bend a little more in her stiff direction. We practiced this on spirals.

I absolutely loved learning a lot of theory behind the riding. It felt kind of like clinic! I really look forward to the new things this instructor can teach me. I know she appreciates the biomechanics and centered riding approach. I actually own the book “Centered Riding” - I read it during my first or second year of riding, but it may be time to dust it off and read it again from a fresh perspective since I’ve come a long way since then.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

I love _Centered Riding_. Years ago, when I lived in Maryland, we lived on a hill, so I went down to the basement and out the basement door to get to the barn. I had Xeroxed pages and pages of _Centered Riding_ and stapled them to the wall in the stairway. Every day on my way out to the barn to ride, I would focus on an aspect that Sally Swift recommended and then concentrate on that aspect when I rode.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

knightrider said:


> I love _Centered Riding_. Years ago, when I lived in Maryland, we lived on a hill, so I went down to the basement and out the basement door to get to the barn. I had Xeroxed pages and pages of _Centered Riding_ and stapled them to the wall in the stairway. Every day on my way out to the barn to ride, I would focus on an aspect that Sally Swift recommended and then concentrate on that aspect when I rode.


What a great idea for a constant reminder!


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## Jolien (Aug 19, 2019)

I am 30 and I started riding in August.  Nice to read there are more people that discover horseback riding in their 'late twenties'.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

Jolien said:


> I am 30 and I started riding in August.  Nice to read there are more people that discover horseback riding in their 'late twenties'.


Thanks for stopping by my journal! It is nice to hear there are others.  I think we have unique challenges, and I often find myself jealous of those that learned when they were kids and fearless. I just can't keep up with most riders my age because they're so advanced by now, so I find it challenging to connect with peers at the barn. (But then I push that feeling of jealousy away because horseback riding is one's own journey and the only person I should compare myself to is how I was yesterday.)


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## Jolien (Aug 19, 2019)

IRideaHippogriff said:


> Thanks for stopping by my journal! It is nice to hear there are others.  I think we have unique challenges, and I often find myself jealous of those that learned when they were kids and fearless. I just can't keep up with most riders my age because they're so advanced by now, so I find it challenging to connect with peers at the barn. (But then I push that feeling of jealousy away because horseback riding is one's own journey and the only person I should compare myself to is how I was yesterday.)


You can also look at it from a different angle... People who learn to ride as kids may have some advantages, but... they were kids and they looked at the world differently than adults do. I know for sure I am much more attuned to micro behaviour as an adult then I was as a kid. I also think kids listen to adults a lot, they don't think for themselves so often. (I mean they do, but they mostly assume the adult knows better.) Whereas we now can challenge things we are 'learned' about horseback riding and the things our trainer says... Also as an adult you are more confident (no screwing around, you want to really reach something.) 



I respect good riders, but I absolutely don't respect people that ride and treat their animals like machines. Or people that are 'equestrians' but clearly don't 'read' their horse because they think they know it all. You can force any animal into being obedient, but only the really talented ones invite animals to join up. Those are the ones I respect.  I think I can see/read animals, but at the same time I know I am probably still ''blind'' on some things. I listen to experienced horse riders, they might open my eyes to stuff. Maybe you can bend your fealings of jealousness into learning... You have a whole journey ahead of you, and the pleasure is in learning, developing yourself...


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

Very good points @Jolien. There are benefits to learning as an adult - I am constantly learning about biomechanics and striving to understand the horse I'm riding in a way I probably couldn't have understood as a kid. Also, as a kid I tended to resent being "forced" into hobbies, so if it had become a chore like soccer became for me, I probably wouldn't be as passionate about it as I am now.

The muscle memory, the fear I've developed as an adult, and the being so left behind by my peers are the parts that I find particularly challenging. Please don't get me wrong - although I feel pangs of jealousy (just a natural sort of thing for me), I immediately push that away and focus on more productive feelings.


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## Jolien (Aug 19, 2019)

IRideaHippogriff said:


> Very good points @Jolien. There are benefits to learning as an adult - I am constantly learning about biomechanics and striving to understand the horse I'm riding in a way I probably couldn't have understood as a kid. Also, as a kid I tended to resent being "forced" into hobbies, so if it had become a chore like soccer became for me, I probably wouldn't be as passionate about it as I am now.
> 
> The muscle memory, the fear I've developed as an adult, and the being so left behind by my peers are the parts that I find particularly challenging. Please don't get me wrong - although I feel pangs of jealousy (just a natural sort of thing for me), I immediately push that away and focus on more productive feelings.


yeah, I know what you mean... I also see that I can't handle horses like other people with way more experience can do... But that's okay. It will grow.  When my horse starts acting up I sometimes think: F* he is gonna buck me off... Or... F* he is gonna... and then I feel my body tense up. But on the other hand... he is a horse and I am a tiny human. If he wants me off he is gonna get me off his back so I always try to let go of the small amounts of fear I experience.  I probably also have to learn how to correct not wanted behaviour


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Fifteen*

Things have been going well in my half-lease, and it’s been a little while since I posted so I figured I would share a quick update. The days I don’t ride (MWF) feel long and I find myself daydreaming about the next time I get to go to the barn. I figured a 4-day-a-week lease - compared with what I was used to - would feel like a ton of barn/riding time! It’s funny how quickly perspectives change.

I’ve begun adding a TINY bit of canter to each of my rides, for about 3 rides so far. It’s still very beginner, but I went from the first time completely bouncing around on her back/falling forward (I mostly blame the saddle) to now being able to get the transition within a few trot steps and cantering down the long side of the arena. Also, each of these times I’ve only cantered on the left lead as it’s my much better side. I’ll add right lead soon, but I’m not quite there - I want to make sure I can sit properly on my better side before doing something that always unbalances me. The first few transitions I still tend to bounce, so my canter goals are to fix that and get good transitions without bouncing, and feeling confident enough to canter at least half of the arena for now.

Unmounted, I’ve been learning and appreciating Neshama’s little quirks. She’s super curious in the barn where she gets tacked up, and if I let her, as soon as she’s off the cross-ties (for bridling or for putting her back in the field) she’ll try to explore and see what other people are doing. She hates bugs - don’t we all, but to a greater extent than other horses I’ve ridden. It will be a huge relief when temperatures get low enough here to start killing them off. I’ve been trying to find places she likes being scratched, to mixed results. She (of course) loves the treats I give her after each ride. Ultimately, I’m hoping to continue to bond with her unmounted so it’s not like I’m using her for rides only.

My next lesson is Saturday.

Sorry, no new pictures yet as I have no one else to take them and figured you’d get bored of pictures of her on the cross-ties and my selfies.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Sixteen
*
Yesterday was a day of some “firsts”. I took Neshama out on the trails behind the barn while my husband walked with my dog. It was my dog’s first time at a barn and meeting horses! He’s an almost 2-year-old Australian Shepherd, so a natural farm dog. His name is Crowley. My husband walked him around on a leash while I tacked up and he was really quite good - quiet and curious. I’m glad this barn is laid back and dog-friendly, because I always wanted to combine my dog life with my horse life when trail riding.

Once we got on the trails, we let Crowley off leash (we always off-leash hike as long as it’s not a populated trail where we could encounter other dogs; he’s very good and friendly, but of course I respect others’ dogs may not be) and had him walk about 25ft ahead with my husband while I rode behind. I already knew Neshama was familiar with dogs since I’ve seen at least 4 or 5 different dogs at the barn in less than a month riding there. She wasn’t phased by him at all, and he only turned around and tried to get closer to us a couple times, but always returned when my husband called him back.

I’m still so new on the trails that I was nervous, but Neshama was mostly excellent and didn’t try to turn back around nearly as much as last time - only about once or twice and she was easily urged forward with a light tap of my crop and some leg. We discovered the huge field that I heard other riders use for canters and gallops. I started to trot Neshama in it, and could feel her wanting to go a bit faster, so when I saw the field was nice and flat with nothing visible to trip on, I let her canter. I cantered for about 6 strides - thrilling, a little scary - until I decided I was ready to slow down. At that same time, though, a flock of birds about 20ft ahead took off and very mildly spooked her, and she sidestepped a little to the right. I easily collected her and walked on.

Once on the trail, I saw it sloped down a little steeper than I was comfortable with. Neshama is on the older side at 19, and I’m such a trail riding beginner, I decided to turn around and find another trail instead. I honestly don’t know how steep of inclines horses can safely go with riders and want to stay on the excessively safe side.

One last thing that happened of note was there was a fallen tree about maybe 18 inches high. I walked up to it and fully expected Neshama to just walk over it as from a walk I’d definitely walked over higher with the need for jumping, but instead she popped right over it, startling me. I wasn’t at all in the right position for it (I was looking down, leaning a little forward), but I didn’t lose my seat and couldn’t stop laughing. 

So the firsts: my dog met horses, I cantered outside of an arena, and I jumped Neshama (oops!).


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Seventeen*

Just a very quick update, because this is an issue I feel the need to record. I am terrified of Neshama's canter. I adore her. I look forward to riding her every lease day, but when I decide it's time to school her canter, my heart is in my throat, I'm so hesitant, and once she gives me the transition, I feel like I'm on a runaway train and make her return to trot after a few strides. She's just so strong and feels so forward, I feel like I have no control to steer or slow her canter down.

I will share this with my instructor on Thursday and see if we can find ways to start working on it. Unfortunately, I've only been able to have one lesson so far due to scheduling conflicts with the instructor (it does seem a bit harder to get a regular lesson with her.)

I mainly don't think this is Neshama's problem. It's a problem mostly with my confidence and ability. I'm sure her canter can be perfectly manageable. (I'm also in a really poor headspace this week after some major changes and issues at work.)

I don't want to be a permanent W/T rider. When I "get" a horse's canter, I have so much fun improving at it. I also know the canter is required for the type of showing I want to do.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

She does look like she has that type of locomotive canter that can feel real strong. Time will cure this.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

In lessons, might help to be on the lunge so you can work on _you _while getting to know her canter.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

From whisperbaby22


> She does look like she has that type of locomotive canter that can feel real strong. Time will cure this.


I wanted to write something encouraging as well, but wasn't sure what to say, and @whisperbaby22 said it perfectly. Something like, a horse with a big canter feels daunting but you get used to it. Don't push yourself. You have your whole life to enjoy riding. No rush to get it right.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

Thank you for your encouraging words! I hope I can get used to her big/strong canter. I'll try to keep up my small amounts schooling when I'm in the right headspace for it without trying to rush myself.

I'm pretty sure my new instructor does do lunge lessons sometimes, so that may be an option. I think I may be a unique (?) situation though where I find canters in a circle *way* scarier than straight canters down a long side. I'm not sure if I ever shared this on my journal, but the first time I ever cantered was in a small-ish round arena - so on a circle - where my instructor was urging the horse to canter and tripped over a mounting block. The horse spooked, I fell, and I was so bruised I couldn't walk for 2 days.

Since then, I don't like 1) the feeling of my instructor pushing the horse I'm riding to get them to canter (I need to feel in control of the transition) 2) cantering circles, although I was finally making serious headway on this with Sundae...back to square one though. This makes me wary of lunge lessons.


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## Jolien (Aug 19, 2019)

Hi, I rode a big fat friesian horse cross in a canter. That was like... "dear mama, this horse takes big steps"  but it was actually more okay then expected!  Don't get scared or put off because of a big horse or an uneasy rhythm. You can also learn how to ask your horse to adjust the rhythm! (My trainer is learning me this) and you can always WHOA your horse so he immediately stops when you feel like he is going to fast!  Also I noticed there are horses that stop when they feel their rider is unbalanced! (Apparently there are also horses that think this event is a cue to go even faster ) they can give you a lesson horse like that.  



Also if it can make you feel any better, I (as a really unexperienced rider) went into the woods on a horse together with experienced riders and suddenly the first rider decided to go fast. My horse followed, but I never rode like this so I was like: oh f* let's just keep calm and try to do what I saw those people do in the videos on Youtube. So I looked like a total idiot, flying around on the horses back, trying to find the rhythm and all. LOL.  I really enjoyed it though!  My horse also tripped during this event and he was a very big tall horse, I was like: **** no. Whyy?  (I stayed in the saddle) hihi


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Eighteen*

I had an absolutely excellent lesson today. My instructor has a style where she wants to support riders who own or lease in being good independent riders, so she talked to me about how it was going and if I was having any problems. I immediately explained how much I enjoy Neshama, but about my fear of her canter. She asked all the right questions: if I knew where the fear came from, where I was with canter before leasing, what makes me feel the most/least comfortable. 

She came up with a solution where I would use half the arena, and while picking up the canter, take a deep breath in. I would then practice deep breathing, using the strides to count breaths in and out. While the deep breathing wasn't perfect (haha), it actually worked. I wasn't scared at all, I was getting the transitions way better, and it felt slower (I'm not sure if it actually was slower, or I was just calmer.)

We also identified that I feel more anxious in a lesson when canter is saved until the end (that normal pattern, walk, trot exercises, pick up canter), so we did it in the middle, and then returned to trot exercises after. 

So this was a real success. I don't think this magically cured my fear, but I now have an important precedent where I know it's possible to canter Neshama and not be terrified.


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## MeditativeRider (Feb 5, 2019)

IRideaHippogriff said:


> I think I may be a unique (?) situation though where I find canters in a circle *way* scarier than straight canters down a long side. I'm not sure if I ever shared this on my journal, but the first time I ever cantered was in a small-ish round arena - so on a circle - where my instructor was urging the horse to canter and tripped over a mounting block. The horse spooked, I fell, and I was so bruised I couldn't walk for 2 days.
> 
> Since then, I don't like 1) the feeling of my instructor pushing the horse I'm riding to get them to canter (I need to feel in control of the transition) 2) cantering circles, although I was finally making serious headway on this with Sundae...back to square one though. This makes me wary of lunge lessons.


I don't think you are alone in not liking cantering on a circle. I find it way harder than cantering in the arena. That centrifugal force on a circle at speed really gets to you!

I also dislike that feeling when the instructor is in control of the transition or speed. I get that they need to do it sometimes if the horse is not responding to the rider but I prefer it much more when I can prepare myself that we are going to have a change in gait or speed rather than have it somewhat forced on me.

Glad to hear your cantering is going well now. It's helps so much to find a good instructor. I also had anxiety inducing experiences in my early riding lessons with other instructors (but not as bad as the sounds of your fall), but now have a lovely instructor and although I am really awful at cantering, I feel totally confident and safe.

I like reading your journal. Your lease horse sounds lovely.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Nineteen*

Well, I just got home from quite an _interesting_ lesson. I've been a little under the weather this week (long story) and missed my Thursday ride, so despite still being a little off, I was itching to get back to the barn. I scheduled a lesson with another instructor at the barn because my usual one was away this weekend. I figured it'd be a great learning experience.

Last night we had our first frost of the year and this meant two things. 1) The bugs are finally dead! 2) Neshama grew an adorable fuzzy coat practically overnight. My heart was so happy to see her today.

She was quite peppy once we started warming up - possibly from that morning chill. I talked to the new instructor about where I am with my riding (the usual), and I could tell she has a different style of teaching from the other instructor, because she really walked me through what she wanted every step of the way. Lots of changes of direction/circling/leg yielding - a fast pace, and she wanted a really big trot step.

Things got a little weird when we went to working on canter. I had trouble getting the transitions, and kept getting the wrong lead. Then, when I got too relaxed after a couple of strides, Neshama would break to a trot and snort and pull her head forward. The instructor was adamant about not letting her do that, saying if I kept letting her I'd end up on her neck, and gave me a dressage whip so I could keep her more forward. 

After a lot of times of not getting it right, I did finally keep her going one or two times around the arena. In the meantime though, I started tensing my arms to try to keep control of the bit and to try to stop her from doing the snorting/pulling, but somehow after one of my best canters I managed to overcompensate so much that when I transitioned down, Neshama pulled her head forward and I...went with her....right onto her neck. Luckily she has a big, strong neck, and I - feeling extremely embarrassed - easily caught myself and pushed myself back into the saddle. 

I really had never had that problem with her before. It was so strange - like a self-fulfilling prophecy of thinking so much "don't let her pull you or you'll end up on her neck" that I actually did. I talked it over with the instructor and I think by excessively tensing my arms, but not actually engaging my core or sitting back, when Neshama pulled forward I just tipped over. I need to remember - flexible with my arms, engaged with my core.

That moment aside - it wasn't all bad. I liked that this instructor pushed me through my hesitancy. I do need that, or I'll never move forward. I got some decent canters and even canter circles, and it was a real workout of a lesson.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty*

I missed both of my rides this past week due to catching an absolutely terrible stomach flu from my baby niece. (I don't recommend it.) It was lovely to get back to the barn both days this weekend. We are near peak Fall foliage here and my barn borders an apple orchard surrounded by rolling hills of forest. Just beyond gorgeous to ride with these views.

My riding feels a bit one step forward, two steps back right now. Neshama's been throwing in a lot of snorting and head pulling since last weekend and I can only sometimes push her forward through it. My instructor is taking me back to basics and had me do some riding around the arena in walk and sitting trot, while sitting exaggeratedly deep/leaning back. I've been pitching too far forward which only exacerbates the problem of Neshama getting heavy on her forehand and pulling/getting unbalanced and falling out of canter.

To be honest, I miss riding courses or patterns like I'd done in lessons at other barns. I may need to be a bit more upfront that that's what I want to be given in lessons, at least sometimes. I don't want to always hyper focus on what I'm doing wrong, if that makes sense. 

But that's enough of the negative talk for now. Again, this weekend was absolutely _made_ for riding, and I love this girl.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty One*

Hello again, journal! [Insert all the usual reasons one doesn't post for a long time here.]

A *lot* has happened in the past month.

I found out the current barn owner/my instructor (who was leasing the property) was no longer happy with the property owners and likely planning to move. This became official a couple of weeks ago and she is moving to the complete opposite type of property - fancy, extremely expensive show barn.

Neshama's owner decided to stay at the barn instead of moving for financial reasons. Another barn manager will be taking over the care of the horses and property. There will be no lesson program for now, though, (it will just be one of those private boarding barns) so I will have to figure out a new lesson situation. The new barn manager has given lessons before, so I will start with seeing if she will be willing to teach me. Otherwise, I'll have to search for an affordable situation where someone comes to the barn to teach.

Neshama suddenly showed lameness about 3 weeks ago, correlating with a sudden drop to freezing temperatures. My instructor noticed her slowing down early in one of my lessons and not being able to track properly with her right hind leg at the trot. She also became really rude - running away in her paddock, pinning ears, girthy, etc. Her owner started her on Adequan injections and I only rode her once at a forward walk in 2 weeks. Thank goodness I had my first lesson with her again yesterday and she was practically like a new horse and back to her normal mostly-happy (I mean, she is still a mare) self. I was worried I might not be able to continue my lease for December, but it's looking good now.

Since I was off for 2 weeks, I'm back to being a little rusty with a million things to work on, but I am just thrilled she is feeling better and I look forward to continuing our journey together.

The barn is a little bit of a dreary place right now - every time I am there people are moving more tack/equipment and horses away. I look forward to that transition being complete and the barn being settled in a new way.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty Two
*
So the "name of the game" lately has been trail riding for the past two weeks, which has added a lot of fun to some otherwise challenging situations that I'll go over below. Out on the trail, I find myself getting substantially better at maintaining a deep seat and decent rein length, dealing better with her occasional side-steps or jigs, not being nearly as afraid of hills, and letting myself relax instead of feeling constantly on edge. Today, I also had the chance to trail ride in the snow after our first storm hit this past week - how beautiful!

I believe Neshama might prefer trails to ring work. Especially when we get to the big field, she truly opens up and feels so energetic. (I think should would like to gallop - I've mostly held her to a very forward trot.)

I'm grateful for the trails we have access to, but they are only probably about a mile or two at most, so I've seen all there is to see I think. I'd love to be able to trailer to much bigger trail systems, but that probably won't come to fruition anytime soon. I'll continue to make do with these!

Every time I have trail ridden so far, I've gone with my husband and dog hiking ahead. It's a nice family outing, and has helped me build my confidence without having to ride out alone (there is no one for me to ride with). 

So for the challenges:

Since the barn leaser/my old instructor left, there are only about 4 horses remaining so they were all consolidated into closer paddocks. Shama was turned out with 2 geldings that quickly became incredibly aggressive and possessive over her, and although she's wonderful, it started to make her buddy sour. 

As I mentioned, we got our first big snow storm this week. I skipped my Tuesday ride and headed up to the barn on Thursday. The barn driveway, which is an upwards hill from the road, was barely (if at all) plowed, and not salted at all. I drive a tiny little Chevy Volt...so that was...interesting. So began one of my most frightening horse experiences so far. 

Imagine me, 4'11" on a good day, in the dark, slipping and sliding to try to make it to Neshama because, **** it [wow - that wasn't even the "f" word, it begins with d], I don't care of it's snowy or cold or dark, I want to spend time with my lease horse. The moment I approach her in a paddock I'm surrounded by two screaming geldings (one gray, one paint), I swing the lead rope, firmly shout at them to back off, as I halter her and walk her away, nearly tripping in the several inches of snow. But they're completely blocking my exit, and as I try to get her to the gate and push her off, a girl who was doing some work in the barn thank goodness came to my rescue to help hold them off so I could get her out. I don't think I would've been able to, otherwise.

I slip and slide my way back up the hill to spend some time brushing her, but she is pacing side to side on the cross-ties, the geldings continue to scream, she starts to scream and pull. I decide riding is out of the question (I don't even feel comfortable with her behavior on the cross-ties to feel safe tacking her), so I decide to try to hand walk her in the arena up the hill. Slip and slide my way up towards the arena, turn the lights on (it's so, so dark), and begin walking her. Okay, not terrible, until I realize that the barn owners opened up the paddock so the geldings now have access to a huge paddock that borders the arena on one side and the gray comes galloping up, still screaming. 

I try to get Shama to focus on me, but she's having none of it. She begins to pull on the lead rope (completely unlike her), nearly tramples me. I circle her a few times, but she is on edge, tense, huffing, calling out. I do one more lap to try to convey that behavior is not okay, and decide to call it quits because even if it felt safe, all the screaming was extremely annoying by this point. So I begin to walk down the hill and this time almost face plant and I imagine myself getting trampled because she is still anxious and riled up now. Thank goodness I managed to stay up right. I decide to put her away as quickly as possible, and again thank goodness the girl doing the barn work was still there to help me get her back in. (There are 2 gates to that paddock and literally - the gray was blocking one, the paint the other, and refusing to back up.)

I immediately contacted her owner and explained what happened and how unsafe the situation was. Within a day, Neshama was switched to a new paddock. For today's trail ride, it was completely night and day. This time I brought my hiking boot spikes (I call them crampons, but they're the more casual kind) so I was prepared to slip, Shama was her in new paddock so I got her out no problem, the geldings called when they saw me walking her away, but she ignored them completely. No issues grooming, tacking, and a pretty happy trail ride.

So, some challenges and interesting times. I know horses can be sensitive. I think not only did moving into that new paddock upset her a little, but also her entire herd that she was so comfortable with leaving, people in and out removing tack, large equipment, horses. I can only imagine it stressed her out.

Here are a few shots of my Thanksgiving morning trail ride.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Years ago, Equus did an article about combinatons of mares and geldings in a pasture. The one combination they suggested you NOT do was two geldings and a mare. This was ironic because I already had a gelding and a mare and had just bought a second gelding for my daughter . . . and it was really bad. Like you described, my two geldings would double team me to not let me take my mare out of the pasture. Also, they fussed with each other over the mare. All bad.

After a year or two, my mare died, and when I decided to buy another horse for myself, I figured I would have to buy only a gelding. I wasn't thrilled about that because I like mares and there were some nice ones that I could have afforded. But I had to stick with buying only a gelding.

Equus said two mares, two geldings are fine. That's what I have now, no problems. Two mares one gelding is fine. Three mares one gelding, three geldings, one mare, all fine. Just not two geldings one mare.

There are exceptions and if you have just the right geldings and just the right mare, it can work out great. But who can know that when you are buying a new horse?


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

@knightrider - That is so interesting, thanks for sharing! It really was way more extreme than anything I'd seen before with my experience at other barns with different turnout situations.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty Three*

I've continued on with the trail riding which had been lovely, until a mishap on Christmas Eve that has really shaken me and I'm not sure I've fully processed yet.

After about a 40 minute trail ride through meandering trails with no problems, we reached the big open field and my husband was going to stay back while I took Neshama for a nice forward trot around the field once to get her some final exercise before heading back to the barn. But as I asked for "forward" expecting the trot I usually keep her to, she very suddenly broke into a full on gallop. In that moment I was so shocked I got tunnel vision (I just remember seeing her neck and the ground moving extremely fast) and pretty immediately lost my seat and fell off to the right.

The fall was so awkward and the frozen ground was hard - I crumpled arms, then head first. Neshama took off, and my husband sprinted to me to make sure I was okay. I laid there still but conscious, wanting to listen to how my body felt. I asked my husband to go after Shama and slowly was able to get myself up - so grateful I wasn't feeling any searing pain. I walked gingerly in the direction they went and found them on the tree line back towards the barn where we met up. She seemed fine, not really even startled by the whole situation, munching on some grass. 

I decided I wanted to ride her back to the barn, so got back up and did. I was sore but when we got back, took my time brushing her and giving her the special Christmas treats I bought her (minty muffins) before heading back home.

So, I'm very sore. Pulled a muscle in my neck, left arm around the shoulder blade/upper back, and left hip. We think I might have a minor concussion because I was rather listless, moody, and sensitive to lights/sounds yesterday on Christmas (probably the worst day to have to endure lights/sounds - heh), but I managed with lots of ibuprofen and wine. 

But honestly, the worst part isn't the soreness. As far as falls go, this still wasn't top 2. The worst part is that I'm scared, and I'm disappointed in myself. I've wanted to try cantering/galloping Shama in that field at some point, and thought my seat would have been decent enough by now to stay on. So I just feel like I'm not as good of a rider as I thought. 

Also, it was so unexpected that my trust in her is rather shaken. I know that since the barn owners changed, she moved paddocks, and she is getting way less exercise due to the snow/ice that she had some pent-up energy, but I just didn't anticipate the sudden gallop and now I find myself worried about safety. I don't plan to give up, and guess I will just have to be extra cautious, and not even ask for forward in that field for a long time.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Sorry you fell off. Falling does have a way of shaking our confidence. You did not ask for advice but I would suggest a good helmet and possibly an air vest until your confidence in yourself and your mare grows. It does not sound like your mare did anything wrong per se other than leave a little more energetically than you had expected. Sometimes a neck strap will help in these scenarios. it give you something solid to hang onto when doing a gait change.

Hope you mend quickly


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

Thank you @carshon! I do appreciate your feedback. I was wearing a helmet but definitely will be replacing it as I take head safety super seriously and believe in replacing them after any bad fall. It also didn't fit perfectly as I had lost a lot of weight since I got it.

Not sure I can afford an air vest, but might at least invest in a $100-$200 range safety vest. So, coincidentally, I had ordered a grab strap last weekend and it was literally delivered the day of my fall, but later in the evening. I think that will help at least a little with peace of mind.

You're right - she didn't do anything mean or technically wrong (she got a forward cue, and just interpreted it differently than how I intended). That's different than a bolt or spook, so I need to keep reminding myself that. If I don't ask for forward, which I probably won't for awhile, it shouldn't happen.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I'm sorry you had such a scary experience. Your horse basically bolted, a little bit. She took an openning, and took it for as much as she could. Not because she is 'bad' or 'naughty'. Because she is fresh, it's cold and that makes horses even more fresh, and you were in the open, and she's been confined, etc, etc.


An experienced horse person would have expected this as a very possible result, and might have never openned the door (asking for anything greater than the walk that had been under control so far, ),knowing that it may not be possible to hold the door partway open, so best not to open it at all. 



Some might say, learn the one rein stop to stop the horse from bolting. Yes, it's a good thing to learn. But, it has to be applied BEFORE the hrose gains speed, and NOT in a snowy , slippery field. So, in your case, your best bet is to try and stay on if you can. Easier said than done, right?


Lastly, please do not wear cleated hiking type boots when you ride. This can be extremely dangerous becuase it makes it more likely that your foot might get caught in the stirrup when you fall, and you get dragged, even to death. Riding boots/shoes should not have big cleats on them, and always have a heel.


This fear, this pain, . . . . it will pass. I guarantee it.


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## Feathers7 (Jun 11, 2019)

There aren't many horse people I know of who haven't felt that way at one point. Myself included. You aren't alone. Feeling worried about it is one thing, but disappointed in yourself is quite another. Worry just keeps us from doing the same "stupid" thing over again. Even though none of that was really your fault, your body thinks horse riding is now a pointlessly worrisome endeavor. That one's not so easy to get over. Gotta have a few good experiences to get your confidence back. But you can control being disappointed in yourself by realizing the truth of what happened - it was sudden, you were not expecting it, and there wasn't much you could have done at the time. Seat? What is that when your brain is full of adrenaline and you're hanging on for dear life? I'm glad you're going to be okay, though. =) Don't stop envisioning having a successful ride while you rest up. That always helped me.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty Four*

Things haven't been so bad. I got right back on the trails 2 days after my fall (it was during one of my rare vacations and didn't want to lose the opportunity to ride...haha). Most of the soreness ended pretty quickly - still a slight twinge in my left arm if I reach it back, but that seems to be going away, too.

I've been very timid and cautious on the trails since the fall, of course. I keep her at a slow walk nearly the whole time, and I've only taken her on the absolute edge of the big field with my husband walking right in front of us so she is unlikely to try to take off. We've had to avoid most of the trails as there are a lot of hills - between ice and mud, they haven't felt safe. So it's just some simple loops for now.

I also added a grab strap to the saddle, which honestly doesn't feel all that helpful as I'm not sure I'd actually have time to grab it if she did anything sudden, but it doesn't hurt I guess. 

On weekday nights it's already dark by the time I can make it to the barn, and the arena hasn't been so ride-able, so I've been doing a lot of groundwork - walking and trotting her on her lead rope and a halter. I longed her so she could get some cantering time twice. One time I made myself nervous when she got really forward and wouldn't relax to vocal cues, but I let her run it out and she eventually settled down. I'd never longed a horse more than a minute or two with an instructor a couple of times, so that has been a learning experience.

I decided to use the groundwork time to work on some of her manners, walking and halting nicely next to me, and especially standing at the mounting block. (She has a tendency to get impatient and walk off way too soon). It might be a challenge to teach an old horse new tricks (so to speak), but she may be getting it. Anyway, I've truly enjoyed bonding with her from the ground. Riding has always been my favorite part of working with horses, but being forced (by the weather) to do groundwork has been illuminating and extremely beneficial.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Another option for a grab strap is to take an old stirrup leather and fasten it around her neck so it's sitting up above her withers, but on her neck, almost like a very low collar. It is in a slightly better position to reach if you are in an "oh ****" moment- I sometimes feel that the grab strap on the saddle can make a rider tip forward, reaching down towards their lap, in a way that can make them feel more unbalanced vs. something that's a little more out in front of them and positioned a little higher. Glad you're back out there on the trails though- all that walking is good for your horse too!


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty Five*

Long time, no post! Things have been...complicated, both with Neshama and at home. Neshama is the only mare at the barn now and the geldings were too aggressive with her, so she is in a very small paddock by herself instead. Before, her paddock was up against another mare, but that mare left, so now she up against the paddock of another gelding. Even though they aren't technically together, he is very possessive and screams and paces when I take her out.

She has been mostly fine on the trail - takes a little leg to get going initially, then is a little forward (I still keep her almost exclusively at a walk since the incident in December), but not buddy sour. But now I've had two incidents in the arena since I've had a couple of days where the weather was decent enough that the footing wasn't flooded.

The first time in the arena, she started off in a fine mood. We did some schooling at walk/trot, mostly circles and serpentines, and I was very happy with what she was giving me. It was going so well I decided to school the canter a bit, and that's where things fell apart. As you know, I'm not very confident at the canter, so I was looking for slow and easy once or twice, but instead she gave me runaway train. The first couple of times she was just speeding ahead, not collecting at all and making it really hard to control/turn her. She wasn't responding to my vocal cues and although I was trying to sit back, I had to have a pretty forward seat to keep my balance. To stop her, I had to pull really hard on the reins which felt messy.

I decided to try keeping her to half of the arena (turning B to E) so she couldn't use the long sides as an excuse to run out, and got maybe one canter that wasn't completely terrible (but not good). By this time she was huffing and rooting and I decided to do one more. My mistake, because this time she completely took off with me, refused to turn, and refused to stop. She ran from one end of the arena to the other, mixing a few galloping steps in. I almost bailed because I honestly thought she might try to jump the 6' fence because she was not slowing, or she might stop short and I'd end up in the fence. I did stay with her though and managed to stay on. Instead of completely stopping short she slowed and turned and that allowed me to re-balance and grab the grab strap. I should probably add the direction she was running in was where 3 geldings are paddocked right up against the arena - as I think she was trying to get back to them.

This shook me and I walked her once around and then got off. My husband happened to record the incident and it didn't _look _nearly as terrifying as it felt - it didn't look like she was being dangerous, just rude. The next day her owner texted me and asked if I had any problems with her canter - I found out her other lease rider (who I don't think has been riding through the winter otherwise) had the same problem the next day.

Then, earlier this week I decided to walk-trot her in the arena, and she was extremely buddy sour just to start. Calling out, pacing, not standing for mounting, trying to jig back towards that side of the arena. I did work her through it and got her brain a *tiny bit* on me, but I didn't feel safe or like it was a good ride. Her trot was pace-y and she didn't give me much, if any, good bending. She kept rooting and I didn't want to push her forward too far and end up with runaway canter. (I know one of the ways to deal with rooting is to push forward, so I'd push her into trot, but I think possibly she needed to be pushed *hard* with a confident rider.)

So, here's where we are. 
-I don't think she is a good match for me with the way things are - she's strong, forward, unpredictable. I still need steady and beginner-safe, especially if I want to improve my canter. And there is still no one giving lessons at my barn.
-But I love her and have invested a lot of time and emotional energy in her.
-And I do love how quiet and laid back the barn in. My husband, dog, and I hit the trails every weekend and I don't want to lose that.
-My husband became suddenly unemployed, so I can't afford to find a new lease option, anyway. (This was is the same price for like 1 day of riding at most barns around here.) And I want to keep at least one thing in my life the same for now (I might not be able to continue the lease if he doesn't find something soon, but he doesn't want that, of course).

I think the next time I ride her in the arena I will lunge her first to get her moving and her mind on me. She clearly isn't getting enough exercise, mixed with the stress of being mostly alone, losing her herd this winter. I absolutely sympathize with her, but also need to push her towards better reasoning and to become her leader/someone she trusts to be in charge. 

Please feel free to suggest other ideas.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

Riding with another person would be a huge difference, if the person understood that you need to just walk. Wish I could be there to do that with you. I have done that with many riders.

Seems like you are riding alone. Do you take her for walks? I know that several people on Horse Forum take their horses for nice walks. It's good exercise, the horse likes it, and I think it really helps the horse bond with the human. Can your husband walk along with you? How about finding a walking buddy on Facebook and they walk while you ride?


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

Thanks you for reply, @knightrider! I actually don't have trouble walking her on the trail - for the most part. She's a little forward in that big field, but if I stick to trails through the woods she's pretty good. My husband always walks with us (along with our dog) - I'd be too nervous to go on the trail alone. We usually go at least once a weekend.

My bigger problems with her are in the arena, now, and trying to do more than a walk on the trail.

I do think it would be nice to have someone to ride at a walk with, though. But there are only about 5 horses at her barn now and I never see any of the other horses being ridden. I think they have the winter off.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Stay within your comfort zone. If all you can do for now is walk on the trails so that. Safety is the most important. She sounds like she has become a bit herd bound, this is hard to deal with in my experience.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty Six
*

Hi HF! How about a bit of an update? Riding, as with life, has had ups and downs but has been fun. Neshama is doing comparatively well. She is still the only mare at the barn - poor thing - but she was moved to a huge (multiple acres) paddock that shares a fence line with some geldings, and she seems well-adjusted and appreciates the extra space. That and the nicer weather has her much easier to manage, less forward, and calmer.

We haven't had a repeat of my last post. We walked on the trail and walk-trotted in the arena for most of the last month. This past week I've added occasionally trotting on the trail and a *teeensy* bit of cantering in the arena. It's actually been very challenging to get her in canter since she's back to her baseline calm self. (I prefer this to OMGHIGHSPEEDRUNAWAYTRAINLETSMOVE canter).

As for COVID-19, I am still allowed at the barn for now as a half-leaser. It's a small, private barn with about 5 owners and most of them aren't there often so I don't think the owner is too concerned about spread yet. I'm glad for that - it's what keeps me sane and gets me out of the house, now that my husband and I are both working from home. 

I've just discovered the very interesting world of online horse shows. Since there doesn't seem to be much happening at the barn right now - no lesson business moving yet as far as I know like I thought there was going to be, so no trainer to help me figure out where I should go next, I'm considering entering one of those video dressage test shows to give Neshama and I something to work on and to get some feedback. We use a dressage saddle, so might as well?

My caption on the attached photo was, "6 feet in the air counts, right?"


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty Seven*

I just got the results for my first online dressage test! I decided to start at the very beginning with Intro A and earned a 60.31%. 

I ended up having to film the test twice. I went out to the barn at 9AM hoping to have the arena to myself, but alas. There is a very talkative new boarder at the barn, and her mare was having some issues so she was around. She ended up putting her mare away in the paddock that borders the arena right in the middle of the first filming of my test and ended up calling out to me and my husband, so I had to stop. Neshama thought it was rather annoying to have to do the same thing twice, so I think that led to a bit of the impulsion she lacked.

*When I watched the video, I noticed that I needed to work on these things:
*-Impulsion in general, but especially at walk.
-My legs never stopped moving, and to squeeze her my heels kept going up and back.
-Straightness on center line and at walk, ouch.
-Are my circles circular and 20m? Not sure.

*And here are highlights of what the judge said:
*-Center line could be straighter.
-Impulsion should be more energetic.
-Connection should be more elastic.
-Work on straightness, develop bend and suppleness.
-Lower hands.
-Final remarks: "Cute pair with bright future as experience and confidence grows."

So I have clear things to work on, and had so much fun. I'm going to do another Intro A probably in May, and I'm also working on an intro freestyle routine to music (way more challenging than I anticipated) for late May/June. I want to see if I can get my Intro A points up before I add Intro B.


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## IRideaHippogriff (Jul 19, 2016)

*Twenty Eight
*

Quite a lot has happened in the last month! A new instructor moved in, who just so happens to be one of the instructors I had a couple of lessons with last Fall and really liked! While she isn't actively recruiting new students because of the quarantine, of course, she has approval from the barn owner to work with existing boarders/leasers so I've had two lessons so far. 

And I just wanted to share - during my lesson yesterday something just "clicked" with getting Neshama's canter transition! I got it twice in each direction to prove that I could. The key was combining every single technical step - truly sitting the trot, outside leg back/inside supporting at girth, cluck, and for the first one, tiny tap with dressage whip. And instead of running into it she really just "jumped" right into it and it felt like magic. 

Actually riding the canter is another story and for another day - I rode it at most down one long side yesterday before I would get too nervous and bring her back. I did have one instance of half-halting her successfully for two strides before putting the breaks on too much, but that was cool too feel. 

In sadder news, Neshama colicked 2 weeks ago, which was truly terrifying even though I wasn't the one to see it. She went down in the field and had to be tubed and put in a small paddock and monitored for a few days. She's made a full recovery, but it does have me worrying much more about her now. 

But, to end on the happy note (which we should, since Neshama is feeling great again) - a picture of me after the canter transition "clicked"!

(Edited to add: No idea why the photo is sideways - it isn't on my phone or computer.)


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Colic is a horse owner's worst nightmare. The only thing that helps is that horses colic all the time and mostly recover just fine. We are all in the same boat, there.


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