Yeehaw

Well just a little bit of a yee haw.  Marla and I started our horse riding course on Wednesday.  We went out to Connect and Ride to get started.  Last time Carmen said to come a little later - the week before we were really early.  This time she said we were a half hour late.  So next week we are going to get there 40 minutes early and see how that works.

We got out to the stable and the first thing we did was to go out to the paddock and get our horses.  I got a brownish gold mare named Sam and Marla was to ride a little gypsy horse named Vixen.  We put the halters and leads on them and brought them down to the stable.  Once we 'tied' them up to the fence we gave each of them a good brushing.  Then we scraped down their hooves.  We put on their saddle blankets, saddle pads, and got the saddle up.  Sam stands about 6ft high and it is a tall lift to get the saddle up on her.  We don't use a halter with a bit in it - the kind we use is called a hackamore.

We went out to the riding ring.  I was able to stretch up my stirrup and get my left foot in, I work my steeltoed boots rather than cowboy boots but they were just a little too wide.  Sam goes forward with a little click of the heels and a 'che che' sound.   "whoa" stops and sometimes goes into reverse.  To go left hold the reigns a little high and to the left, right goes the same way.  Actually the hard part was dropping down out of the saddle.  Rather than staying in the stirrup I take both feet out and slipped down to the ground.

The horses get another brush down and clean hooves.  I felt a little bad for Sam because I am so big but felt totally awesome that I am small enough to be able to ride.  Even if it was just circles in a ring, it felt great.