# The Journey of a Newbie Rider



## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

So, I've decided to start journaling about my lessons, since so far, it's been a crazy journey for only 4 lessons. Lol.



*How it all began*​
For the 16 years I've lived, most of them were spent with one goal, one idea, one dream and one thing I wanted; to ride horses.

Ever since I was little I'd draw them, imagine them, dream about them. Yeah, of course at the time most would have thought I was the typical little girl, but I never really grew out of it. 

I'd never ridden before, save for a couple of trail rides at pack places, and sometimes my friends Bonnie and Brandon from Renaissance Fairs would let me help tack and untack their horses. They offered to let me ride, but I was afraid I'd be terrible. 

By the Mid-summer after I'd turned 16, I pretty much gave up, I resented horses and people who owned them because I was jealous and angry with myself. No matter how hard I had tried, something always went wrong anytime I came close to getting lessons or someone offered let me help them with their horse. I grew angry with myself, and with the world; I was convinced dreams never come true and goals can never be reached.

A few months after that I stumbled across an ad on a horse website for a Friesian gelding that was for sale in my area. He wasn't completely stunning, or completely athletic, infact, to be perfectly honest, he was very average; I liked him anyway. I didn't give a **** if his feathering was thin, or his mane was short or he just didn't have enough pizzaz in his dressage shots. I really liked that horse, a lot more than any horse I'd seen in my life, I've Friesians before, I've seen a Gypsy Drum, I've seen Warmbloods, Lusitanos, Fjords, all variety of drafts... And a ton of QHs, Mustangs, Arabs and thoroughbreds. 

I decided to E-mail the seller of the horse, asking if I could visit her ranch (10 mins away from my residence) I wasn't interested in buying the horse, she knew it too, but she let me come visit anyway.


The weekend I visited I met all the other Friesians she owned, from the babies to the yearlings to the full grown horses, of all different varieties too, some of them were the sleek type of Friesian, the others were baroque types. They were terribly friendly and at one point I came close to crying.

Before I realized it, she'd arranged with her trainer to let me take lessons on Ludsen; the very horse in the sale ad that I liked, I never even told her out of the five Friesians she put for sale on that site that it was him who I liked the best. Said lessons, costing only $20 for an hour. 

So, that is the story of how I wound up with riding lessons on a Friesian horse.


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## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

*Lesson 1 : Look up!*​


Ludsen is way easy going, and even kind of lazy, he was easy to tack up and he's really calm and tolerant. I wore fitted jeans and shoes with a good heel, and my trained leant me a pair of half-chaps.

The lesson was kind of uneventful, we were on lungeline and I had pretty good posture most of the way through. (though I kept looking down, especially when learning how to post.) Learned how to walk, halt and post at the walk. She asked if I'd like to try trotting, but I decided not to.


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## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

*Lesson 2 : B-E Agressive!*​

I am by no means an aggressive person, I'm very gentle, and passive, and here I am being asked to bully poor Ludsen! (Okay okay, so Luds is a 16.1 beast, but he's so sweet!)

Learning how to trot was pretty hard, even my trainer said it was hard for her trying to trot on Ludsen since his trot was so big and powerful.

The problem wasn't so much the trotting as it was; getting Luds to trot. He's big, lazy, and he knew I was too nice to be aggressive.

And when he did trot, it HURT. I was able to hold the rythm a bit of the time, and eventually the barn owner and her husband came in and actually complimented on how well I was doing for a beginner!


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## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

*Lesson 3 : Quarter Horses are Lazy*​ 

For Lesson three, I rode Doc, a really cute buckskin Ex-reiner who loves. to. eat. Ludsen had just been used in two previous lessons (one for the barn owner the other for her husband), and Doc was just as calm and easy going. 

I've only ever 'caught' a horse once, and Brandon was with me at the time. His Gypsy drum just walks right up to him anyway. It was really weird when my trainer had me go and catch Doc myself, he didn't walk up to me, I just went up to him slowly while he was grazing and made noise to get his attention, then haltered him and lead him back up to the arena. He kept trying to eat along the way and everything, that bum. brushed him off, tacked him up and got on.

Doc's trot was so much smoother! It was hard to get him to go though, my trainer had to give me a plastic crop-thingy to tap him on the shoulder with so he didn't try to slack off. lol.

So, this lesson was very progressive for me; I got better at my trot, kept my heels down, my hands were at the right angle and became more aggressive!


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## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

*Lesson 4 : Off the Line*​

I forgot to mention at the end of Lesson 3 I was off the lungeline for the first time, but I just walked around the arena. Then after that I cleaned and polished three saddles.

Anyway, this was a very interesting day to say the least. We got there a little late, and my trained was talking to a vet. She introduced us and we went to one of the barns where some new mares were being kept (there were 5 new horses that had been picked up from Quarantine that weekend 2 geldings, 3 mares) The mares were amazing, they looked like the Friesian stallions you see on horse calendars

The vet gave the new mares some vaccinations and showed me how to deworm them, and even let me deworm one myself.

Then, I went and got Doc again (My trainer let me choose between Doc and Luds, and I decided the easier trot would be best for now since I'd been off for a week)

We rode outside this time, and since there was no mounting block we mounted indoors and then I rode Doc to the outdoor arena. We did a little walking and halting. But, Doc being a lazy bum of a horse he is, it was very hard to get him to trot. My trainer resorted to throwing sand at his butt.

Which made him CANTER! At first I thought I'd spooked him, but I rode it out pretty well according to my trainer. 

Anyway, This entire time I was off lead and controlling him myself in this HUGE outdoor arena! It was great! Even after being off for an entire extra week, my trainer said I'd actually improved a ton despite not riding for a long time. Where most people tend to take a few steps back, she said I seemed to take an extra few steps foreword in my time away.

At the end of the arena lesson, she told me to take a ride around the property, and it was pretty fun, especially when Ludsen came up and started pouting at me when we rode by his pasture. Poor guy!

Then, when we went between Teake (Freaky Teaky) and Sjoren's (one of the new geldings from Holland) pastures. They got him to start cantering AGAIN xD I managed to get him back to trotting, then halted him. My trainer laughed and was like "You're not a beginner at all! You can stay on and everything!"

After that I untacked Doc (on my own for the first time) and helped rotate the geldings through the pastures. Ludsen almost squashed me with his face when I went to catch him.


It was a fun day


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## southafrica1001 (Mar 24, 2008)

It sounds like your going great . Keep up the good work and keep posting. When is your next lesson?


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## kickshaw (May 7, 2008)

keep up the good work!


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## Dartanion (Dec 8, 2008)

*I like reading about your lessons. I haven't had a lesson in over 4 years (not showing off) and I hoenstly miss them. I can't watch myself ride and I missed riding with other people and laughting at our mistakes lol.*


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## kershkova (Jun 25, 2008)

Im not agresive either


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## hey little lady 123 (Dec 6, 2008)

you all


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## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

*Lessons 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and so on: Back from the depths of the barn* ​ 

Wow! Sorry I was gone for so long! I got so into riding and the horses that I've had no time to talk about them! lol. I missed you guys though! 

I've been riding at least 2-3 horses a day each time I go to ride and work for my trainer. I do this a lot now and was practically there every day over Winter Break. I've ridden not only the Friesians but also now I'm riding three QHs (a lazy gelding, an inbetween gelding and a crazy mare) and my trainer's retired Dutch Warmblood (He's so cute for being an old guy.) 

I now not only ride at Maddi's Friesian Ranch, I also now ride at the Amacker Ranch where my Trainer keeps previously mentioned retired dutch Warmblood and the inbetween-personality QH. Along with the Friesians of Breathtaking Friesians

I have officially mastered the trot on the QHs and the Friesians, and will hopefully be cantering this Monday! Well, not completely cantering, but I'm hoping to get my feet wet with it.

I'm hoping I will finally be able to get more pictures and maybe even a video to show you all my progress from Lesson 1 to now. 

I bought riding breeches (pinstriped!) with money my grandmother sent me and some I saved from working since I don't have to pay for lessons right now (Yay!)


*P.S.* Doc the Lazy QH is lame right now ): Even if he is a bum he's still a sweety. Poor guy.


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## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

*Notes*​
Forgot to add these little guys, but these are the two places my trainer works for and I've been helping her. So I guess I don't really ride at one particular 'barn' lol!

Welcome to Breathtaking Friesians.com

Maddi's Friesian Ranch - Friesian Breeding in Gardnerville, Nevada

I think I'm the only person in the area lucky enough to work with both Ruth and Jackie's Friesians aside from my trainer. I didn't meet Apollo (The Breathtaking Friesians stallion) until just recently. He came back from LA working with my trainer's coach for a while. He looks a lot different now (I think he looks prettier lol). 

Aside from being huge and demanding of attention I don't think you'd notice he was a stallion personality wise. I thought he'd be pushy and dominant but to be honest, Doc and Tucker are more pushy than he is. He was a sweety, lol, I wouldn't mind walking him around on a lead or something, I don't think I could ever ride him though.


The Breathtaking Friesians mares Minois and Zambi are nice too. Zambi bloats when you put her girth on though and she tries to trot when I'm not really ready to. Minois (AKA. Minnow) is really nice though, she's also my trainer's favorite, and now mine.

At the ranch where Jackie keeps her friesians my trainer keeps her old Dutch Warmblood gelding. He's a huge goofball, and I mean HUGE. I think she said he was 17 hh, she let me ride him around for a bit (he was injured so he doesn't get to go beyond a trot) while she rode Apollo and she kept laughing about the size different between he and I. (I'm only 5'0" and I weigh a LITTLE less than 100 lbs)

He's highly orally stimulated and my trainer thinks he was weened too early. He's super sweet though and everyone gets a laugh out of him and adores him. I secretly kinda want to steal him lol, he's easy to ride, funny in a non-harmful way and he's easy to get along with. He's got good manners too. We can leave his stall door open and tack him up inside his stall without tying him up and he just stands and chills.


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## Caboose (Nov 5, 2008)

*Lesson #?: Wear your helmet*​ 
I didn't get to canter today, but I got to ride Marko (At Maddi's) for a long looong time and he was awesome. We really got along and for the first time I actually felt the burn while riding. I'm a physically fit person all around, so even though riding uses different muscles, I never really got to work those muscles much, but because of Marko's size and his easy movement, I sort of HAD to use the muscles and it really felt awesome. 

So, I've always known horses were unpredictable, but I never expected little old Tucker to buck me off, infact, he's the only horse I've been riding aside from Minnow (Minois) that hasn't been naughty in any way. I adore Tucker, he's sweet, he's pretty and he's just a fun little guy to be with. He was the last horse I expected to buck me off. The bad thing is I wasn't wearing a helmet (the sad thing is I sort of knew the time I'd finally fall off would be when I didn't have a helmet) It actually didn't hurt and I owe it to the users here. I remembered reading something someone posted about falling. Where they curled up and relaxed their muscles when they fell instead of tensing up, and it prevented a lot of damage. 

I didn't even bruise thanks to that little tidbit nor did I lose any confidence (infact, I think once I got over the confusion, I gained.) I feel bad, because we think the reason Tucker god so upset was because his owner (my trainer's mother) babied him a ton and my Trainer's young brother who wants to use him as a rope horse beats the crap out of him and now he thinks his riders are out to get him. I don't want him to think I'm going to make him my ***** like my trainer's brother you know? I want to make it fun for him so he can enjoy going out with me as much as I do him. I have no idea how to though. ):

I forgive him, as strange as that sounds, I still think Tuck is a sweetheart and I can't help but think he really just felt like he was getting pushed too much, and his bucking was his way of saying 'I can't take it anymore!'. Kind of like PMS, only it was a gelding lol! So I feel like eventually he might build a little more tolerence. I want to ride him still, and try to show him that he can enjoy it too without letting him get away with murder. I'll have to research that a little more though

In other news I finally met Bocelli, the infamous jerk of an Andalusian stallion my trainer works with. Aside from being terribly handsome and having REALLY good days (lucky for me today was one of them so I got to see him at his best!) he is kind of... not really that great lol. His owner though, is super nice and is actually Jackie's sister-in-law. (Jackie is the owner of Breathtaking Friesians)

Which, today I really got to know Jackie and I thought she'd hate me but I'm starting to think she might like me because she invited me to ride with her on the weekends and she's okay with me helping my trainer with Apollo (I don't ride Apollo, simply because I'm afraid to do something wrong and ruin him.)

Other than that I cleaned tack, cleaned up barns, raked and gave out kisses and treats. Especially to poor Doc who's still lame.


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## ohmyitschelle (Aug 23, 2008)

Sounds like you're doing incredibly well for a newbie to this world and got some lovely horses to be learning off. Falling off sucks, but I'm glad you took it in your stride, but yes do wear ya helmet! They're so important!
I look forward to hearing more about your rides! And some piccies wouldn't go astray!
x


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