Our First Horse

One of the benefits of having an older, well-broken in horse to ride is that anyone can ride him. We confirmed that last weekend when we threw the Kid up on our foster horse, Sinbad, and handed him the reins.

It would be a better story if we could tell you that the Kid had been begging us to ride, jumped up there with no hesitation, and took to horseback riding like a duck to water, but the truth is, he was a bit reluctant. In fact, we tricked him into going outside, where the horse was waiting, and coerced him into getting into the saddle. Then we told him we’d hold the horse the whole time he rode, only to let go of the bridle once the Kid had gotten more comfortable. Shame on us! But the good news is, he was in fact able to control Sinbad, and by the time we went up the road a little ways, turned around and came back to the barn - with Sinbad under the Kid’s direction the whole way - he admitted that horseback riding was fun after all.

Hopefully, this was the first of many rides. We have little hope that riding will replace video games in the Kid’s world, but maybe someday he can add it to the things he enjoys doing. We’d better get another horse, just in case.

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I went trail riding again on Saturday. I’m sure you all will get tired of hearing about this soon, but I am still just so excited - I’m riding my horse! On a regular basis! It’s just so cool.

Anyway, I went with Shari and her friend/coworker, Christina. Christina happens to be a large animal vet, so I’m happy to be getting to know her better. We went to a place nearby that is just a nice, easy network of trails. They wander through woods, around cornfields and next to a lake. The weather was perfect, and the horses were all very well-behaved.

Shari brought her gelding, Rabbit; he’s a Quarter Horse, about 15, maybe 15.5 hh. I had my 16.2 hh Tennessee Walking Horse. And Christina had her 17 hh Thoroughbred, Wilson. Can you just picture that? Since Bill, our official (and only) cameraman, didn’t come this time, you’ll have to picture it in your head. To help you in your imagining, though, Rabbit is a bay, Valentine is of course black, and Wilson is a dappled grey. He’s a former racehorse who also was a show jumper, and Christina rides him with English tack. What a motley crew - Shari on her Western saddle, in jeans and a baseball cap; Christina on her little English saddle in breeches with half-chaps and a riding helmet; and me on Shari’s nice trail saddle (looks like a Western/English combo) in jeans and riding helmet. You wouldn’t think we’d make be a good trail group, but we did. The horses all got along famously, and as long as we were only walking, things went pretty smoothly.

Every once in a while, though - okay, several times - Wilson wanted to go just a wee bit faster. Valentine wasn’t going to take that laying down. He was like one of those drivers you encounter, who isn’t going too fast until you try to pass them, and then they speed up. The faster Wilson went, the faster Valentine wanted to go. And let me tell you, a 17 hh Thoroughbred can go pretty darn fast.

I’ve learned something else too: a former show horse is not necessarily a good trail horse. My horse, as I’ve mentioned before, was a fancy show horse. He was what you call a “big lick” Tennessee Walker. That means he was one of those horses with the big ol’ pads on his front feet, keeping his back end way down and lifting his front feet way up in the air. Pretty impressive in a show ring, but not so very practical for everyday walking. What I’m saying is, he has one gait that is really, really smooth. It’s called a “running walk.” All his other gaits are, shall we say, uncomfortable for the rider. His walk is okay - rougher than a normal horse, but tolerable. His trot is really bouncy. His canter makes it nearly impossible to stay in the saddle. We never made it to a gallop, thank goodness. I think a project in the near future will be to find someone who knows how to direct a gaited horse, so I can learn how to keep Valentine in that nice running walk. I could sit that all day.

We also took our horses into the lake. That was an adventure. Rabbit would not go - Shari had to get off and lead him reluctantly in. He has a “thing” about water. Wilson would absolutely not go. Christina got off and tried to pull him in; he pulled her out. She got back on and Shari and Rabbit stood behind, with Shari slapping him on the rump with a crop as Christina tried to get him in. No way, sister. Finally they settled on getting him to stand at the water’s edge, which he finally did. And Valentine? The first time we tried, I got him to the edge but he turned around. Then after the Wilson fiasco, I tried again and he went right in. I was so proud - two experienced horsewomen, and I, the novice, was the only one whose horse obeyed with no trouble! Later, we found a better, smoother beach and all three horses went right in, and had a high old time, pawing and splashing. We can’t wait for summer, when getting splashed will be fun for the riders too.

All in all, it was a really great day. Can’t wait for this Saturday! I wonder where we’re going?

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We told you we were going to keep doing this riding thing, and we have. After the big confidence boost we got last Sunday, we were feeling secure enough with our horses that when we were invited to go camping Friday night and riding on Saturday, we thought, “why not?” So on Friday night, Shari came by with her two horses in her four-horse trailer and picked up Valentine and Moonshine. We drove over to her mom’s 20-acre farm and camped for the night. The next day, we had a great campfire breakfast and saddled up the horses. I rode Valentine and Shari rode Moonshine. I had no trouble at all with Valentine; I rode him a while, then Bill rode him, then Shari’s uncle rode him. He was perfect.

Alas, the same cannot be said for Moonshine. After feeling like Moonshine was going to buck her off several times, Shari worked with her with the longe line for a while, then rode her again. She was better, but Shari still didn’t trust her enough to let Bill ride her. So poor Moonshine was put up in the barn for the rest of the day. Bill went home shortly after that. Poor Moonshine…poor Bill. I’ll let him tell more about that, and about Moonshine’s future (don’t worry, we’re keeping her).

But that didn’t keep me and Valentine from having a good time. Shari rode her gelding, Rabbit, and we rode around Mom’s fully-fenced cow farm for a while. That got boring after about a half an hour. By that time I was feeling pretty darn cocky, so Shari suggested we leave the confines of the farm, walk down the road a ways and head into the woods. So we did. It was so great! We found a nice trail, and I was able to take Valentine through creeks, up hills, over fallen timber, through brush - he was, I say again, perfect. We rode for a couple of hours. It was wonderful!

So, guess what I’m doing this weekend? Camping and horseback riding. How cool is that?

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A friend of ours called us the other day to relay a story that happened on her street a few days ago. A local girl was out riding her horse on this small country road not far from here. She put a blanket on the horse and went for a ride using a lead rope as reigns. I bet you can guess this didn’t end well. Her horse spooked, dumping her onto the paved road where she was found some time later, bleeding from her ears. Her horse was standing nearby. She was airlifted to a hospital an hour away and is recovering. But it could have been far worse. I don’t have the statistics on head injuries handy but most of the serious injuries I hear of involve head trauma. Yet on trail rides and at events, I rarely see anyone wearing a helmet. Why is that?

Last year I hopped on top of Moonshine for a photo opportunity. I was wearing shorts and sneakers and Moonshine was bare, except for a lead rope. I believe my famous last words were “I’m king of the world!”, followed by me coming to on the ground. For whatever reason, Moonshine dumped me off of her back and I was fortunate to have not hit my head. But I could have and I might not be writing this today.

For Christmas last year, I gave Mikki a nice Troxel Dakota Duratec helmet, complete with leather trim and all the modern fixings. We’re still new to this whole horse thing and I knew we’d be riding our horses soon. It’s a long way up, especially on Valentine and after my fall, a helmet seemed like a good idea. Now that I’m starting to ride, I decided I needed a helmet too so today I bought the less expensive Troxel Spirit training helmet. My head is apparently big so I got a large and an hour later I tried it on at home. The fitting was met with snickers and I figured out why when I looked in the mirror. This helmet is HUGE. I looks like I have a shiny black watermelon on my head. In fact, it looks ridiculous. Remember Rick Moranis in the giant Darth Vader helmet in Spaceballs? That’s how I felt wearing this thing. How could this be? Mikki’s helmet, a medium, looks so cool on her. The foam on the Spirit is almost twice as thick as the Dakota and it really increases the size of the helmet. Mikki is going to exchange the Spirit for a Dakota tomorrow so I don’t feel as much like a goober. I don’t want an excuse to not wear a helmet.

When you have a chance, check out the testimonials on the Troxel Helmet website from horse riders whose lives were saved by a helmet. Several of the stories are from people who said they’ve ridden all their lives and their horse was normally calm until one day something happened and they were dumped onto their head. There’s no question in my mind that a helmet is a wise idea. Fortunately there are style options to keep you and me from feeling goofy but either way, be safe and protect your head, just in case the unexpected happens. And try that new helmet on in front of a mirror before you leave the store!

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Yesterday, our horse friend Shari (I know we talk a lot about her, but if it weren’t for her, we may have given up on this horse thing by now) decided that Sunday would be the day that we rode our horses again. So after a trip to a local festival, we came back to our barn and saddled up our horses. It was great! We took them in turns up to the round pen, first Valentine and then Moonshine. Shari used the longe line and whip to get a feel for how they were going to behave (or not!), then hopped on and rode around the arena. She even took Valentine out and rode around our pasture. He was so good! Then I rode Valentine, first around the arena, then outside. He was good for me too! Then Bill rode him, in the arena and out. Guess what? He was good for Bill too! I’m beginning to think he’s not just decorative after all.

Then it was Moonshine’s turn. She was a little spooky, because there were kids running around and yelling, neighbor dogs barking, and - horrors! - cows in the field across the road! (In her defense, the cows are new. Our neighbor just fenced that field to give his cows more pasture.) So she did a lot of head-tossing, stopping and staring, and snorting. She eventually calmed down (when the cows were out of sight), and Shari and then Bill were able to ride her in the arena. Then, alas, it was too late to ride anymore, because it was pretty dark.

All in all, it was a very good and productive afternoon. We are much more confident now, and in fact intend to saddle them up again this evening after dinner, all by ourselves! We’ll let you know tomorrow how it went.

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Yesterday evening we went over to our favorite horse friends’ house and picked up a portable arena they weren’t using. We loaded it onto our trailer when we got there, enjoyed a nice dinner with their family, and headed home a little after 9:00 p.m. So do you think we parked the trailer somewhere and left it for tomorrow? Heck, no! We were out in our dark pasture with the truck lights on, plus our Jeep facing in from the other way, hauling that thing off the trailer and setting it up. If we didn’t have to get the Kid to bed for school, we probably would have tried it out with a horse. We’re so excited!

We have eleven 10′ panels plus a 5′ gate; that gives us a round arena (well, eventually it will be round; it was pretty dark out there when we were setting it up) - that’s about 37′ across. Just about perfect for working a horse with a longe line. Also, it’s not so big that my Tennessee Running Horse can take me for too much of a ride.

And, just in time, we’re supposed to start getting cooler weather this week. I do have this big project I’m working on with a deadline looming…but I’ll find a way to squeeze some arena time in too.

Did I mention that we’re really excited? We are really excited!

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