Monday, September 9, 2013

Horseback Riding!

Sunday I went out to my friend Rocksanne's house to practice horseback riding! We are planning to ride the Penasquitos trail together sometime but she wants me to practice a few times before we do it. Good idea because I have no clue what I'm doing! Rocksanne is an excellent teacher and she taught me some pretty fancy stuff that will take me years to get down, but hey, it was fun! I rode Cassy and she rode Jaz- both are pregnant!

I learned about "Posting" which is when you rise out of the saddle seat for every other stride of the horse's forelegs during the trot. This helps smooth out the ride so you aren't jouncing around all over the place. This was very difficult! I'm not that coordinated so it will take some practice. You must squeeze agressively with your knees and as a result, my inner thighs are sore today!

I learned how to correctly hold the reins. Overlap the reins and have them rest between your little and ring fingers with your thumbs pointed up- hands hovering over the withers. Make sure your hands do not pull up when posting- keep them as independent from your body as possible so you don't yank up on the horse's head.

I can hear Rocksanne's voice in my head as she says "Inside rein, bump bump bump!" to get the horse to round the corral corner close to the fence. It works!

I learned how to put the saddle on and take it off as well as the bridle and bit. I learned what some other fancy items are called but I don't remember the names!

We switched horses and I rode Jaz. The posting was much harder and higher and she kept wanting to canter so I mentioned I must be doing something wrong. Turns out these horses are very sensitive to body movement and when I sit down hard after posting, that was her signal to run. This is going to take lots of practice.

We were streaming sweat and the horses were foaming by the time we were done. We wiped the horses down with water and then Rocksanne put fly masks on and sprayed them with fly spray. I'm sure they were glad to be done. Rocksanne then showed me what she is doing to train her other horse Shalimar. She showed me her longing (pronounced lunging) technique which is when the trainer uses a rope and other aids to circle the horse around learning the commands- walk, trot, canter. It also gets the new horse used to the trainer's voice and body language.

After we were done "horsing" around (haha!) we had brunch at the golf course with a delightful view. I had the "Hangover Omelet" with jalapenos, sausage and eggs, cottage cheese and tomato slices. And no, I did not have a hangover! Rocksanne had biscuits and gravy with eggs and sausage. Delicious! I headed on out and stopped at 7-11 to procure a slurpee, of course! I stuck with the sugar-free one this time in a coconut flavor. I like the full sugar ones better but what can ya do.

Check out her website: http://rparabians.com/

Enjoy the horse pictures!

Me and Cassy:



Shalimar longing:



Rocksanne schooling Shalimar:





Shayde (he's a colt):






Cassy after we wiped her down:



Jazzie with her super cool fly mask!



Shalimar:



Dallas:



Leta:

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