The Kid Rides Again…And Falls Off.
Posted by Mikki on Jan 06 2008 at 11:21 pm | Tagged as: Riding
Except for the falling-off part, it was a great day. We went on a multi-horse trail ride over at the Watson farm. There were six of us: Shari on her barrel racer, Misty; her two sons on her gelding Rabbit and her Halflinger mare, Cree; me on Valentine; the Kid on Sinbad; and Bill on Champ. Who’s Champ, you ask? Interesting story.
Our cow neighbors put a horse in their pasture a few weeks ago and we’ve been keeping an eye on him. A couple of nights back, it was really cold, so we approached the neighbors and told them they could keep their horse in our barn when it’s cold. They declined, but we found out that the horse, who doesn’t have a name (cue music…“I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name…”), belongs to their son, but he’s too busy to keep a horse and he’s interested in selling him. So of course we’re interested in buying him. We’ve been feeding him carrots over the fence for a month, and named him, for goodness sake! But, having learned from our experience buying the green-broke Moonshine on a whim, we asked if we could ride Champ today to see if he’d be a good horse for us. They said fine, so after church we dropped the Kid off at Shari’s and went home to tack up Valentine and Sinbad. Then we rode over to Shari’s, picking up Champ on the way. Shari and her kids were ready to go, so we threw the Kid up on Sinbad (with his own helmet, purchased last week) and Bill rode Champ.
The Kid was pretty nervous, and was having trouble keeping his feet in the stirrups. The horses were all really squirrelly - probably because they were from three different “herds” all mixed together. Still, everything was going fine as we wound our way through the trees. Until, suddenly, the Kid fell off. I didn’t see it happen, but turned around in time to see him hit the ground. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt. He was, however, extremely reluctant to get back up on his horse. We finally convinced him to ride Cree instead, because she’s much smaller (about 13 hands) - not as far to fall, don’t you know. I’m sorry to say that he didn’t really enjoy the ride, even after moving onto Cree and not falling off any more, so we’re going to have a heck of time talking him into doing it again. 
The rest of us had a really good time, though. It was a short ride, but fun nonetheless. Champ was easy to ride, not spooky at all and very obedient. Alas, our horse expert friend Shari has advised us against adding him to our horse family. It seems that the sweet guy is over 20 years old and probably arthritic. She warns us that if we were to buy him, he probably wouldn’t be sound enough to ride for very long. Such a shame. We’ll think about it though, and of course keep you posted.
And darn it, we forgot the camera, so no pictures of our horses in their new tack. Maybe tomorrow - it’s supposed to be about 70. Jealous? 
Oh, that’s too bad that he feel off. It’s hard to be them past that when they aren’t really horse inclined in the first place. I hope you are able to convince him to ride again. Good thing he had his own helmet.
The neighbor’s horse sounds like maybe a good beginner horse if the riding won’t be too intense. Watching how the horse moves in cold weather will give you a clue about the arthritis.
Sounds like a great day….and with great weather, too! I AM jealous. It’s been single digits here at night for over 3 weeks now. Brrr!
BTW, I wouldn’t give up on Champ either. I’ve been riding my neighbor’s 21 year old Arabian horse and she is such a calm, obedient, easy horse to ride, and she still has alot of pick-up-and-go, too.
Even if you only got 3-5 years of riding out of Champ, at least it would be GOOD riding. He sounds like a horse that you (and even the Kid) could practice and learn from.
Good luck!
Hey! Don’t pass him by just because of his age. Horses don’t live to get old by being stupid. Some of the very best confidence builders are the golden oldies. They’re past all the silly stuff, and can teach you a thing or two! That’s just the kind of horse I’m looking for.
Jamie