this horse makes people smile

Words spoken by my trainer today.



Last night, much like a little kid on Christmas Eve, I could barely contain my excitement about riding today. I tossed and turned wishing the morning to arrive sooner and thought about who I might be riding at my little camp day.

Once I figured out which other girls were attending camp I could sort of feel a lump in the back of my throat forming as my trainer said, "today I am going to put you all on horses that may push your limits a little, but we won't do anything beyond your skill level." As I was fooling around with my boots she said, "You'll be riding Beauty." I celebrated, "YESSSSS", I had secretly hoped I would be paired with her.

Oh the cuteness!

But, there is more to this story. When I started riding Kiki, she was the alpha mare of a small herd. In the field with her was Nikki (a 22 year old, aging thoroughbred), Note (a steady, and very non-marish thoroughbred, and Beauty (a the time, a 2 year old gangly TB baby). Beauty followed the other mares around and learned the ropes. She couldn't be left in the field alone or she's scream and run the fence. This was particularily annoying for me because she would make catching Kiki difficult, leaving the field annoying, and then she'd holler non-stop the whole time I had Kiki at the barn or in the indoor. Kiki would then come unglued while I rode her. She HATED being away from the other mares, specifically Beauty. I remember cursing that cute, dappled grey mare EVERY time I rode Kiki.

Who, me? Whinny? NEVER.

In Beauty's defense, she was just being a horse. I can't really fault her for that. It just seemed so funny today that I would be riding the horse that drove me bonkers while I was working with Kiki. She was after all, a leggy, pretty mare, a beautiful mover and she had an in-your-pocket personality.

She had been backed right around the time that I started working with Kiki and she seemed incredibly sensible. Sure, she had some "baby" moments, but nothing crazy. She could be hacked all over the property without a care in the world. She was started again last year, then put out for the winter to grow. In that time, her owner (a man who was planning on racing her) stopped paying her bills and her ownership was relinquished to my trainer. Since then a woman at the barn (who's horse is struggling with some ongoing soundness issues) has started riding her regularly and boy is she coming along fabulously. The woman, who mostly rides dressage, has even been jumping her (lightly of course, she's only 4)! The best part is, she's a perfect size for me...15.2-3hh and compact.

So, today we had two lessons. The first was bomb-proofing. We set up a trail course in the indoor and braved the freezing temps to desensitize our horses to various things...we had a labyrinth set up to walk through and back through, some standards with various (scary) items to pick up and drop off, a gate to open and close (to enter a round pen), polo mallets and balls to hit, a huge blue tarp to walk over, and a fishing pole type thing made from a lunge whip and a ball. Even though Beauty had been used in the camp a few days prior, she's still a baby so I wasn't sure how she would handle everything. She wound up being such a solid citizen that we actually led some older horses through their tests! Our big accomplishment for that ride was the gate opening. Apparently, during the other sessions she had a really tough time with it and her rider couldn't get her near the gate. She walked right up, yielded off my leg to get closer, let me reach of her right side and the gate was open. We walked in, took a quick lap around the round pen and she got lots of pats for being a good girl! She blew my mind for being just 4 and acting so brave about every task. She's not dull by any means, and she IS quite sound sensitive (that was the only time she really spooked -- horses bolting at things, loud noises, etc) and her spooks were minor. I think she's got a great future ahead of her.

We broke for lunch (yum, camp food is always awesome) and played a conformation game with pictures of riders jumping (I had an advantage as I knew who nearly every rider was)! Then we watched a video on lameness before heading out for our afternoon lesson. I had a choice of who I wanted to ride, but I was excited about taking Beauty out again (we mostly walked in the morning). She was waiting at the gate when I went to grab her from turnout (such a cutie). This time we'd be riding outside and we set up an exercise from 101 Jumping Exercises (we didn't really jump, mostly stacks of poles a few tiny cavalettis). The lesson focused on rhythm and tempo. The grass was quite slick so it was important that we all had control over our horses to help balance them on the undulating terrain. At one point, a colt and a gelding were turned out in the field next to the outdoor and the colt proceeded to gallop up and down the fence line, snorting and carrying on. I was slightly worried about this and some of the other horses were getting pretty frazzled by his behavior. He eventually settled down. I think one of the hardest things for me during that lesson was not relying on Beauty for stability. Since she's young, I had to remember to follow her head with my hands (and so I couldn't count on using her for any support)...it was like riding Kiki all over again, following her green bean head up and down to keep light contact and encourage her to use her body properly. Our final exercise was a little "course" which we had to trot. Easier said than done for a lot of the horses. The slick grass and chilly weather had most of the horses feeling quite fresh and they didn't have any problems expressing it. There were a few playful bucks, some careening around and one or two duck outs, lucky for me the mare kept her silliness in check! Beauty was incredible ratable throughout and she listened as I closed my thigh and slowed my posting to keep her from rushing through the course. I had no idea what she might do over the little "jumps", but if there's one thing I am good at, it's giving a greenies a nice confident ride. I just rode her like she already understood the question, and guess what? She popped over everything like a champ, she never got crooked nor too fast. I gave her straight rides to every fence and plenty of freedom at the base of them in case she took a leap. I was beaming ear to ear when I hopped off of her. So many pats for the good mare!!!!

This horse will make you smile my instructor said...and she was right. There's something pretty special about this mare. She's just so brave and sensible all wrapped up in a cute thoroughbred body! You know, she's not perfect by any means. She's still a baby, and will do baby things. She doesn't have the best ground manners (huge pet peeve), but I'm convinced that if I could turn Kiki into a love bug, Beauty will be a cinch. Mostly, she's just impatient and a bit pushy. She's not very good about having her feet handled, gets pretty antsy when she's left behind, and is a bit of a challenge to bridle (not a problem related to getting the bridle on, just fastening everything once it's in place)...all stuff that would be fun to work on with her.

All smiles!!!!

Looks like Charlie's got some competition as my potential lease horse in the Spring! *My instructor DID say I could pay to lease and ride them both....oooooooh!