Time to Ride

Last week marked a milestone in my filly's life as she started under saddle as a three year old. She had been lightly ridden last fall for 30 days with the winter off to grow and play, but now her life as a riding horse starts in earnest. I plan to use this blog to chronicle our rides and keep track of her development.

The first ride was uneventful. I hired a trainer to go up the first few times cuz I was slightly chicken. :-) I lunged her first and she was attentive and well behaved. The trainer suggested a little Ace to take the edge off for the first ride, so we gave her .25 cc in the vein. She's a cheap drunk and was quickly a little woozy. Needless to say, that made her a kick ride for sure and quite comical to watch. Twenty minutes of walk and trot and she was done. Very nice.

The next night, I tacked up and lunged her in anticipation of the trainer arriving. Turns out he had been to the dentist and was sleeping off his meds. He woke up in time to rush over and hop on. No drugs for the horse, but a slightly drugged trainer! She was wonderful again. Lots of walk and trot and then a little bit of canter. The first few strides were a little hoppity hop, but she never gave a real buck and smoothed out into a canter. She really didn't want to pick up the left lead and after several mis-starts finally did and cantered nicely. I was next up for a walk and a trot and she felt great. Lots of horse in front of the saddle and nicely forward and comfortable; no steering but that will come.

Day three in training land was farrier day and time for baby's first shoes. She's been just a little off in the left front and her "connections" agreed that shoes might give her a better base of support and would protect her for the trail riding that's in her near future. She was a champ for the shoeing. She didn't like the smoke from having the shoes burned onto her feet. No pain, but the smoke from the searing of the hoof smells strongly and she thought is was quite objectionable. A treat distracted her and no real drama. She stood very quietly for the nailing and walked off sounding like a big horse. Size 3s for my (not so) petite girl.

The farrier asked to see her go so he could get a good look at that left front. So off I went to tack her up for first ride sans trainer. A little lunging and then I hop in the outdoor arena and we walk and trot about quietly. At this point I'm loving my horse! The farrier thinks her issue is a lateral suspensory strain at the navicular bone in the left front. The treatment for that is slow work, so our plan for light riding will progress and hopefully the issue will resolve in the next few months.

Megan then had three days off while I went camping. Apparently she used that time to reflect on life as a riding horse since the first ride back was our first bolt! It was an honest spook. Someone was playing basketball at one end of the arena and the goal was off to the side so not really visible but the noise of the horse-eating basketball and its occasional appearance startled her as we came around that end. She threw her head up and took off. I was able to pull her down fairly quickly but then she decided to throw in a few bucks. Very rideable and stern "MEGAN" got all four feet back on the ground. I put her back to work on the non-basketball end of the arena until she was attentive and responsive. Then I hopped off and walked her down to the other end and marched her around until the dribbling and shooting of hoops lost her interest. Another lesson learned -- there are no horse-eating basketballs. I really wish her spook wasn't bolt+buck, but perhaps she'll grow out of it.

That brings us up to last night. I tacked her up, but didn't dress to ride which was just as well. She was a little up and go-ey the whole time I lunged her and just looked a little tight around her eye. Could have been the pre-work mane pulling session that had her a little pissy. I did some modifications on the lunge and really got her working over her topline and from her back end so a very productive work all in all. Tonight is the first off-property ride. I'm trailering her over to the trainer's barn so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully all participants will be lucid and fully aware!

What a fun adventure!