A storm brewing
13 June 2007 22:53![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
glenatronToday there was a storm on the way and the ponies were a little bit on edge because of it. I'd been I decided it was an opportunity to do a little riding, which was what I had planned to do anyways but work had made me run a little late so rather than going out for a hack I thought I would do a bit of riding in the school while ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sleepsy_mouse tested Jasper's boots.
Unfortunately Jasper walking around the barn triggered off a round of silly buggers in the two horses the other side of the hedge from the school who started pelting around flat out. We couldn't see them but we could certainly hear them, which wasn't ideal as Zorro is convinced the hedge is full of monsters at the best of times.
It was a valuable experience for me as I got a chance to find what it's like sitting on rears, bucks and a bit of flat out gallop. The good thing was that I didn't feel like any of it really shifted my seat, I stayed with him and in balance. The less good was that my hands were tending to close up on both reins, which is probably what caused the bucking, rather than instinctively going for the much more effective disengaged one-rein stop.
Once Jasper was waiting at the side of the school Zorro settled a bit and we managed some gentle turns and backup, at which point I felt we'd done something good and (with just a tiny bit of relief) hopped off.
When we put ponies back in the field I could feel that Zorro was still full of hectics, so I went for a run with him just to see if he would. He certainly did, trotting along with me then bouncing into a canter that stayed just level with me. Then he went for a bit of a roll and came up to me again in a way that suggested he'd quite like another rampage- so we set off again- this time I was sprinting and he was galloping pretty much flat out. I stopped sharply and Zorro slammed all four feet to the floor, turned in a series of enormous bucks before dropping to a walk and coming over to me again. It was very impressive but also a reminder of what a huge and powerful animal he is and how much havoc he could cause if he set his mind to it.
sleepsy_mouse tested Jasper's boots.Unfortunately Jasper walking around the barn triggered off a round of silly buggers in the two horses the other side of the hedge from the school who started pelting around flat out. We couldn't see them but we could certainly hear them, which wasn't ideal as Zorro is convinced the hedge is full of monsters at the best of times.
It was a valuable experience for me as I got a chance to find what it's like sitting on rears, bucks and a bit of flat out gallop. The good thing was that I didn't feel like any of it really shifted my seat, I stayed with him and in balance. The less good was that my hands were tending to close up on both reins, which is probably what caused the bucking, rather than instinctively going for the much more effective disengaged one-rein stop.
Once Jasper was waiting at the side of the school Zorro settled a bit and we managed some gentle turns and backup, at which point I felt we'd done something good and (with just a tiny bit of relief) hopped off.
When we put ponies back in the field I could feel that Zorro was still full of hectics, so I went for a run with him just to see if he would. He certainly did, trotting along with me then bouncing into a canter that stayed just level with me. Then he went for a bit of a roll and came up to me again in a way that suggested he'd quite like another rampage- so we set off again- this time I was sprinting and he was galloping pretty much flat out. I stopped sharply and Zorro slammed all four feet to the floor, turned in a series of enormous bucks before dropping to a walk and coming over to me again. It was very impressive but also a reminder of what a huge and powerful animal he is and how much havoc he could cause if he set his mind to it.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 13 Jun 2007 23:02 (UTC)no subject
Date: 13 Jun 2007 23:10 (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 Jun 2007 06:05 (UTC)i hate evil hedges of doom.
no subject
Date: 14 Jun 2007 10:30 (UTC)no subject
Date: 14 Jun 2007 14:47 (UTC)i was judging the kiddies dressage at coombelands the other weekend, and they always put the dressage arena next to an 8ft hedge, with the warm up arenas and show jumping the other side.
needless to say, 3 kids left crying and a good 9 or so horses did everything in reverse canter.
no subject
Date: 14 Jun 2007 16:02 (UTC)No point competing if you don't want to be challenged after all!
no subject
Date: 14 Jun 2007 22:06 (UTC)That's exactly what I've been trying to tell him for ages!!!