riding news
Jan. 29th, 2007 06:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quietannSo I went up to ride Minnie today... and she had forgotten that she has twice as many neurons as the average thoroughbred. She was a pill about bridling, and I had to get ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
goddessfarmer's help. I am trying not to beat myself up for not knowing enough basic horsemanship. And mounting... let's just say that the moment my butt hit the saddle, Minnie wanted to *go*. I ended up walking her in a teeny tiny circle while J got on Trumpie, and was happy that Minnie hates pain enough that she didn't fight me.
We chose to hack instead of going to the indoor ring, which probably wasn't such a great decision, because the ground was frozen and slippery. Once we got through the forest, we rode back on the road, a safer alternative. J seems to know who lives in just about every house in her small town, and had interesting anecdotes and comments about everyone. Minnie *would not walk*; she jigged and wiggled and at the end of the ride was just looking for things to shy at. I could imagine her little TB brain thinking, "Hm, a hole with something in it, should I shy at that? Hm, a red plastic bottle, how about that? What about that branch scraping against a house? And that mailbox over there, hm, it's weird, maybe I should be scared of it..." The only true shy came when she stepped on an empty plastic soda bottle, and I can't really blame her for that, because I should have noticed it and moved her around it before she was nearly on top of it. ETA: the red-tail hawk swooping down in front of us was also worth a mini-shy. Or is that a Minnie-shy?
She needs to be ridden more than once every two weeks, twice a week at least, but I can only manage once for now. Maybe in the spring... J and I talked very briefly about leasing Minnie, should I ever find a place closer to me with boarding and a good instructor. In a way, I wish I could say yes, but hm, money is an issue, and I don't yet trust my horsemanship enough to know what is and isn't good for Minnie. She's a bit "hotter" than most of the horses I've ridden, so she needs her people to think for her more. There's also the fact that she can't be jumped, and it does look like eventually that's where I'll want to go with my riding. But I am very attached to her! At the least, I should pay for the extra expenses that come by J keeping Minnie as a riding horse rather than a pasture pet -- more shoes, extra supplements, anything like that.
I finally got connected with Susan, the woman from Windrush Farm. Apparently the majority of their recreational riders (as opposed to therapeutic riders) are guess what, middle aged women, most of whom quit riding and are getting back into it! Susan was really nice and very enthusiastic. And they actually have room for me in a 12:15 Friday group lesson with 3 other women who are at about the same skill level as me. Walk-trot-canter and working towards starting jumping. I'll work from home Friday so I can try this out.
Anyway, after lunch with J, I got in my car just to hear the end of an NPR interview about Barbaro, the Derby-winning racehorse who was put down today. Sad but not surprising news... and how preventable if there was a way to let these racehorses grow into themselves for another year or two before racing them? Minnie is of the same breed as Barbaro, and while of course she's smaller and lightly built, I look at her legs and the idea of subjecting legs like that to racing when the horses are just teenagers (and their legs are not fully developed) just seems *wrong*. For the record, Minnie was never raced. She just has a racehorse's brain.
goddessfarmer's help. I am trying not to beat myself up for not knowing enough basic horsemanship. And mounting... let's just say that the moment my butt hit the saddle, Minnie wanted to *go*. I ended up walking her in a teeny tiny circle while J got on Trumpie, and was happy that Minnie hates pain enough that she didn't fight me.We chose to hack instead of going to the indoor ring, which probably wasn't such a great decision, because the ground was frozen and slippery. Once we got through the forest, we rode back on the road, a safer alternative. J seems to know who lives in just about every house in her small town, and had interesting anecdotes and comments about everyone. Minnie *would not walk*; she jigged and wiggled and at the end of the ride was just looking for things to shy at. I could imagine her little TB brain thinking, "Hm, a hole with something in it, should I shy at that? Hm, a red plastic bottle, how about that? What about that branch scraping against a house? And that mailbox over there, hm, it's weird, maybe I should be scared of it..." The only true shy came when she stepped on an empty plastic soda bottle, and I can't really blame her for that, because I should have noticed it and moved her around it before she was nearly on top of it. ETA: the red-tail hawk swooping down in front of us was also worth a mini-shy. Or is that a Minnie-shy?
She needs to be ridden more than once every two weeks, twice a week at least, but I can only manage once for now. Maybe in the spring... J and I talked very briefly about leasing Minnie, should I ever find a place closer to me with boarding and a good instructor. In a way, I wish I could say yes, but hm, money is an issue, and I don't yet trust my horsemanship enough to know what is and isn't good for Minnie. She's a bit "hotter" than most of the horses I've ridden, so she needs her people to think for her more. There's also the fact that she can't be jumped, and it does look like eventually that's where I'll want to go with my riding. But I am very attached to her! At the least, I should pay for the extra expenses that come by J keeping Minnie as a riding horse rather than a pasture pet -- more shoes, extra supplements, anything like that.
I finally got connected with Susan, the woman from Windrush Farm. Apparently the majority of their recreational riders (as opposed to therapeutic riders) are guess what, middle aged women, most of whom quit riding and are getting back into it! Susan was really nice and very enthusiastic. And they actually have room for me in a 12:15 Friday group lesson with 3 other women who are at about the same skill level as me. Walk-trot-canter and working towards starting jumping. I'll work from home Friday so I can try this out.
Anyway, after lunch with J, I got in my car just to hear the end of an NPR interview about Barbaro, the Derby-winning racehorse who was put down today. Sad but not surprising news... and how preventable if there was a way to let these racehorses grow into themselves for another year or two before racing them? Minnie is of the same breed as Barbaro, and while of course she's smaller and lightly built, I look at her legs and the idea of subjecting legs like that to racing when the horses are just teenagers (and their legs are not fully developed) just seems *wrong*. For the record, Minnie was never raced. She just has a racehorse's brain.
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no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 04:38 am (UTC)I hope she starts get more time out being ridden as well.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 07:08 pm (UTC)In any case, the next time Minnie pulls the bridling tricks, I have
Jigging on the road was just Minnie being hyper, and she does have a hard time walking fast enough to keep up with Trump, who is at least one hand taller and has a naturally big swinging walk. I could get her to drop down to a walk for a few strides, but having a fight with her on the road just seemed like a bad idea. The two times she shied were completely understandable, and she doesn't go nuts; she just "starts" for a couple of strides and gets over it quickly. She kind of has ADD, so nothing gets her attention for long.
She's definitely better behaved when she's ridden more often. It was over two weeks, I think, since anyone had been on her; I was supposed to ride her last Tuesday, but J wasn't available. If I could ride Minnie twice a week, we'd both be a lot happier, but for at least the next 5 or 6 weeks, work is insane and I'm lucky if I get once a week.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 07:22 pm (UTC)Other than that, it really sounds like she needs to burn of energy.
no subject
Date: 2007-01-30 09:05 pm (UTC)The bridling issue is a particular challenge because I'm short and she can easily get her nose high enough so I can barely reach it. She's 15.1 hands but has a fairly upright neck for a TB. And I am, um, barely 15.1 hands myself! There's a reason I like small horses/large ponies.
Yes, Minnie needs a *lot* more work. But she'd spent quite a long time as a pasture pet because she was really too lame to ride. Then J got her hocks injected (she lacks fluid in the joint capsules, which is why she was lame) and now she's sound enough for flat work. I think she actually likes to work, but getting her from standing around munching hay to tacked up and ready to roll takes some doing. Once I'm up and she's gotten over whatever initial overenthusiasm she has, she's lovely to ride and very responsive.
In the kill 'em with kindness department, I know a couple of her favorite itchy spots that can be reached from atop her, so maybe I'll give her some scritches when she's being a good girl.