Since I was taken back on the second of September straight after the trials of George, Carrot, Lucy and Tally. I have been doing a lot of things, swimming more, riding more and going to track in the morning and learning a lot of new things, include giving massages to horses, giving muscle needles and bandaging feet. I have lunged two horses, our 2yr old Billy and our 3yr old Nick. I have since gone to one other trial, with four horses: Fred, Billy, Dell and Carrot. we also dropped a horse off back to the stud, it was beautiful and so big, sadly we didn't see any of our other horses there, but I have to say, it was really nice to see where some of our horses come from. That day Liz let me drive the small 2 horse truck, it wasn't easy and because there was so much traffic we gave up on giving me a little a lesson.
I have ridden fourteen times now on Pete. To be straight up honest I don't think he gives a shit about anything, Nick running into him butt first after being terrified of the grater? Nope. Horses bumping into him on both sides of him? Nope. The first three times I went out riding in the forest with young horses that tend to be pretty spookish, so I was the lead pony. Then I had a little lesson in the round yard with Pete before going back out for another ride in the forest. I really do feel like I'm becoming a better rider with every ride. I rode on RJ twenty fives times again, only one time after coming back and I can definitely control him better than I did when I first rode him, he used to go all over the place and hang on the bit going to the left, to the right. After the third I was a bit disappointed in him to be honest as he was being a bit of a pig, but then again so was the horse that was going out with us, so that didn't help matters at all. He spooked twice both times going into the canter, and refused to go past the grader as Dell was behind us being a pig, however after turning off onto the little track he was fine, kept up well and behaved well listening to my every command even when Dell was acting up behind us. My fifth ride on RJ I was in the round yard on my own, and he was doing really well. I have definitely gotten better at controlling him but he still likes to fishtail in front of the other horses when we turn off onto the little track and are in front of the others, I will conquer him though and get him straight. When I rode RJ in the round yard, I had a little canter on him. He was fun, but he was lazy so I had Emily following us around with the lunge whip... I almost fell off him, He was on the wrong lead, and so he was leaning on the inside, I was leaning to the outside, scared that if I had my weight over his center of balance I would trip him... Silly me slid half off. Farriers had a good laugh, and so did Emily and I. Although I have to say,it must have been karma catching up to me for laughing at Emily who got bucked off Nick three weeks before. One of those rides on RJ was just for fun, Kim wanted to get me out and have some time out, and plus her mare needed exercise, we took a trot up the hill. Kim had me ride her mare as well, bareback in the round yard in preparation to get me rushwading, Nina kept throwing her head up and kept bouncing me around even more. My last ride of the year i was on RJ, I was out with Kim on Troy, and we had a kangaroo jump out in front of us. Neither spooked badly, but they did have a look at everything for the rest of the way until we turned around to go home. We have also seen a snake eating a bobtail on one of our earlier rides of the year. We spent the rest of the way home playing a game Australians like to call 'Stick or Snake?'
I had my first canter ride on Pete. And although 26, he kept pulling up ahead and trying to gallop. However I had good control and only rammed a couple of trees on the way up and down the hill. It was long, but not very steep and by the end of it... I kept thinking that the hill was never going to end... I was puffed out and sweating more then Pete. My second canter ride, was a little better, I didn't ram into any trees and I had slightly better control of Pete. However something that would really help me out is having shorter (and even) stirrups to ride in as I struggled and fought to keep my heels down, and my legs even, it bought my balance point nowhere near where it should be and I was bouncing all over the place. I did get to do a little bit of cantering on RJ thanks to Kim.
I have also been back to the beach, continuing my swimming lessons. Recently I have been doing them with Carrot, who is so patient. On my first swim with him, dolphins started circling around us, it was really an awesome moment and something that will definitely happen again. On my third time going out in the water with him I got there, and I would had gone out but I was too puffed out, the fourth time he was too strong for me. He is literally walking as I am swimming beside him, he is much taller than me, so it doesn't help. But he is so patient with me and is such a lovely horse to learn with. We also had the truck break down on the day I finally got there, swimming with him, so us girls ended up going out in the ocean in our bathers after the horses were loaded and we had our wetsuits off.
I went out for a proper swim with Carrot, and because both Emily and I had our feet on his chest, I kind of fell off him and ended up having to swim back to shore, where Liz was waiting for me with another horse. I then realised that part of the problem was that I was trying to turn the opposite way to Emily so it didn't help my balance either. The second time I went out with him, I went out with Emily again and I last two swims going out and coming back in without falling off his chest. Third time was the charm, I went out for all three swims! I was so proud of myself. Emily at one point stopped going out with her feet on his chest, and let me be in charge of his swimming. I had a little swim on Poe, but that was a near disaster. Whoops. What happened was that Kim had sent us out a bit too early, and so when she realized she called back to turn, if I had turned then I would have ended up in Carrot's bum, which I did because Poe hearing Kim call out "turn around" made him turn, I was forced off his chest and to hang on to his mane.
I started rushwading at the beach, the first horse I rode in the water was Lucy, she's a powerhouse. Second horse was Blue, I rode him on the same day as Lucy and he is lovely, he is lovely to ride and he loves his work. My third horse was Poe I rode him twice, he is so speedy in the water and you really have to hold on (that is if you can get him to go). I then rode Lucy, riding two in one sitting really does make you sore.
We had three races as well, with Tally and Carrot the drive straight to the races was around 3 and a half hours. Tally came in last, and Carrot for his first run did really well, he came in 4th and he was carrying the most weight out of all 10 horses. So we were really proud of him. Overall the day went really well, and it was fun to be back at races. The second lot of races was fun, it was Carrot, Angel and Astro all at Bunbury, Carrot ran last, Angel 4th and Astro 6th. It was a good day out, and all three of us went there to learn... What made it funnier was that I tripped as I was legging up the jockey. It gave everyone a good laugh, and a fun way to start the day. The third race was Carrot only, he was great and he even killed a spider for Kim and I, it was so funny because he did it so calmly, just stepped on it without a care in the world.
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One stride at a time: my horse riding story
RandomA little memoir of how I went from being a volunteer at a riding to a stable hand at a racing stables, to then going to be a stable hand at a training, and competing stable that also manages a stud only to find myself on a little property in NSW. Ge...
