First Trail Ride - or the story of my confidence crisis

The time between horses is interesting. Motivation shifts, you sleep in on weekends. Yah, you can ride other folks horses, but really, you are just waiting for your horse. And yes there is some weight gain.

And then the new horse arrives. It’s fun, you focus on him settling in, putting weight on him. Moving into the big paddock, finding a saddle that fits, getting along with the other horse. Going on nice walks, hand walks.. in the stinking heat. Oh it's real nice. 

We walked up that canyon. Pierre enjoyed playing with the algae.
I wanted to swim in the water trough. 

And then people start saying, 

“Wow, he’s just a baby. Is he under saddle yet?” or 

“When are you going to ride him? Don’t wait too long.” Yep.

And your mind plays tricks on you. When you are not used to riding green horses (at least not as someone in middle age) and you bought a four-year old sight unseen, your mind creates stories of all sorts of horrific scenarios. Involving broken bones, blood, concussions. You get the picture.

I was having a confidence crisis.

So one day, you put on the saddle. Go into the round pen, hop on and let him walk around. He’s an endurance horse, doesn’t really know what to do in a round pen. So he walks really slowly. He mouths the snaffle bit, you walk around a little. This borrowed saddle is too small for you. Way too small. It feels like if the horse did anything other than walk quietly forward you would eat dirt. So you hop off. Good, a successful first ride. If you’d count it as a first ride.

Then you borrow a nice western saddle. Made for a narrow Arabian. It fits the horse well. You decide you are going to ride for one hour in the big arena. So you tack up, walk over there and get on. The saddle at least is perfect, for you and the horse. The sand is a bit thick. And both horse and rider are bored in the arena. But you pick up the energy. Decide on the plan. Practice the one rain stop. Disengaging the hind end. Doing some circles. Then another rider comes in, trots across the arena. And Hello, a couple bucks. Nothing major it’s not a bronc ride. But you smile and think “Ok, now we’re seeing something.” So we walk off again,, and a couple more bucks. One rein stop. The stories in the mind start to whip into a frenzy. Ok I should be pushing him. Making him move, showing him that if he bucks he’ll have to work. But he’s green, I’m unsure of myself. What if he rears? Flips over? But he’s such a calm guy. His mind is not like that at all. But you never know, right?

So we had some conversations in the round pen. He pushed into pressure a bit, ok gonna work on that. It got better.

So that was where I was at with Pierre. He'd been here about six weeks. We’d several miles of hand walks, exploring some of the flatter trails in the 90 degree heat. And I was ready to ride. I'm not in any hurry, we don't need to be ready for an endurance ride. I'm going to let him finish growing, let us get to know each other. And at some point in the next two years we will kick it up a notch. But for now, no rush. But I do want to ride him of course. 

I was having a confidence crisis. The horse had done nothing wrong. But I was just unsure of myself. I needed to see him pushed. Remember I bought him sight unseen, yes from a trusted breeder but still, I had never seen him under saddle. So I needed help. It can be hard to ask for help. Especially for us strong female types. I’m lucky I have several skilled horsewomen as friends and trainers. So I contact a trainer, she’s a few hours away, I can send him there. There is the cost involved, but he’s far away. I want to see what he does. My gut is telling me I just need to see what he does when he is pushed…

So I ask another friend to come ride him. Yes, I just get over the silly idea that I will be the only one to ride him once I own him.  So my fabulous friend comes down. Watches me in the round pen with him. And hops on. They walk, trot, canter…

We move into the big arena. And quickly realize the commands from the bit are unclear for him. So we switch to the rope halter. That is better. He moves around. And I see him get pushed up into a canter.  He seems to be a bit gate sour. Maybe longing for the trail? Or dinner? But we note he offers a buck, or a halt at the gate and drifts that way. 

I can tell he’s got a nice trot and canter. I smile.

He offers a little buck, she stops him to ensure she’s got control of him with the rope halter. Then moves him up again… making him work.

We need some more work on circles, bending, steering with the hind end.

My friend riding him. We are good to go. The confidence I got from
just watching her ride was just what I needed.

So then I arrange for Pierre to get ponied out on the trail with another trusted friend on his mounted posse/search and rescue horse. He’d ponied my other horse too.

I woke up that morning and as they say "Cowgirl'd up." I decided to saddle him up and ride him out on the trail instead of him being ponied. He'll get ponied on other days, I gotta get over this confidence issue, and today is the day. He’s got a great mind, he’s not crazy. 

Just get on the flipping horse Kim!

It’s a gorgeous cloudy early Sunday morning. The cow barn is quiet. I arrive before the morning feeding. I love this time of day, and it takes a horse to get me up this early.

I saddle him up. Let him eat his breakfast from the hay bag. Wait for my friends and we head out. He’s great. I start smiling and I don't think I stopped smiling for an hour. He’s still learning how to carry a rider down hill so I get off and walk down the first steep downhill, and then have to hold him back a bit on the next down hill spots as he wants to dash down them when I'm on his back… but I can tell the trail is where he wants to be.

Pierre and Me on the trail. 

He doesn’t do a thing wrong the whole ride – just a short one hour loop – but he is sweating.  

What is it they say about most car accidents happen within a mile of your home? I think they say something similar about riding, cause you are at ease, maybe not paying attention…

At the end with the barn in sight he spooks at a cow. Just a few steps of a sideways trot. And he turns right back to face the cow of his own accord. I’m smiling. It’s the stuff I want to see. I want to see all he can dish out. And learn that I can handle it. We are gonna get along just fine Pierre. Better than fine as they say.

My friend is going to ride him in a lesson this week, and I’ll do the next one. I learn a lot by watching other people figure stuff out. And seeing how he responds builds my confidence.

 But we are on a good trail now. The images in my mind are of the open trails and us trekking along.  I wake up the next day with a smile, ready for the next ride.