Mellifluous
05-19-2008, 12:27 PM
First off, I have to say that Don Primrose is fabulous as well as Shaun and I owe them a huge THANK YOU! and I hope I spelled Shaun right.
Kevin and I had our lovely trip to Pine Mountain and Callaway Gardens this weekend. The best part of the entire trip was when we dropped by Don's to visit Spirit. Don put me on Spirit bareback with a halter and leadline and had us go around the ring. That was interesting since I came to realize that I need to work on riding bareback because I was entirely too tense while trying to keep my balance. After that, I got to ride with my beloved saddle. That was better, but my lack of balance bareback still bothers me! Either way, the really important part was that Spirit was a trooper for the whole thing and was great. Now, for the worst part...
I suck at riding a trotting horse! Yup, I am one of those people who rides gaited horses and can't ride a regular horse at a trot to save my life. Imagine a portly lady off balance, flailing in the saddle and grunting with every stride. That is me riding Spirit at a trot. But, despite all of this Spirit still behaved very well and was patient with me. Of course, if he had a little thought cloud above his head while he was trotting I would have hated to see what it contained.
The bonus of the trip was yesterday, we stopped back by on our way home and went for a trail ride. Shaun started on Spirit and I rode a cute little grey paso mare that I dubbed Lagerstroemia indica 'Petite Snow'. Part of the way through the ride, we switched and Spirit was great. He never gave a hint of trouble until the very end of the ride. He was excited to get back to the barn and I was not letting him go past a walk. I was holding him back too hard and he lunged a bit. Nothing bad, but a reminder that I need to be soft when I am riding him. He is very light and responds nicely and I ride like Thor wielding his hammer. All temper and heavy handedness. So, biggest lesson of the weekend. I need to go take some lessons! Best part of the weekend...I am actually looking forward to bringing Spirit home and taking him out on the trails at a nice smooth walk.;)
Here is the video - Notice, no trotting footage. I threatened Kevin with terrible things if he took any.:)
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=5dbbd205365bd30fd5ac32&skin_id=801&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url
Kevin and I had our lovely trip to Pine Mountain and Callaway Gardens this weekend. The best part of the entire trip was when we dropped by Don's to visit Spirit. Don put me on Spirit bareback with a halter and leadline and had us go around the ring. That was interesting since I came to realize that I need to work on riding bareback because I was entirely too tense while trying to keep my balance. After that, I got to ride with my beloved saddle. That was better, but my lack of balance bareback still bothers me! Either way, the really important part was that Spirit was a trooper for the whole thing and was great. Now, for the worst part...
I suck at riding a trotting horse! Yup, I am one of those people who rides gaited horses and can't ride a regular horse at a trot to save my life. Imagine a portly lady off balance, flailing in the saddle and grunting with every stride. That is me riding Spirit at a trot. But, despite all of this Spirit still behaved very well and was patient with me. Of course, if he had a little thought cloud above his head while he was trotting I would have hated to see what it contained.
The bonus of the trip was yesterday, we stopped back by on our way home and went for a trail ride. Shaun started on Spirit and I rode a cute little grey paso mare that I dubbed Lagerstroemia indica 'Petite Snow'. Part of the way through the ride, we switched and Spirit was great. He never gave a hint of trouble until the very end of the ride. He was excited to get back to the barn and I was not letting him go past a walk. I was holding him back too hard and he lunged a bit. Nothing bad, but a reminder that I need to be soft when I am riding him. He is very light and responds nicely and I ride like Thor wielding his hammer. All temper and heavy handedness. So, biggest lesson of the weekend. I need to go take some lessons! Best part of the weekend...I am actually looking forward to bringing Spirit home and taking him out on the trails at a nice smooth walk.;)
Here is the video - Notice, no trotting footage. I threatened Kevin with terrible things if he took any.:)
http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=5dbbd205365bd30fd5ac32&skin_id=801&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url