I'm pinching myself that it's August and that I have started to form new partnerships with some new horse friends. My good friends recognised that it was a good idea for me to start riding again and generously offered me the ride on some of their horses. I began again with Sebastian and once I stopped feeling tense ( a trip round the gallops and an impromptu schooling session when I hid indoors from the rain removed all my doubts ) it was time to move on to Independence. Indie is by Free Spirit by Jumbo so there is a family connection and to begin with I had moments where I mistook her for Jack. This surprised both of us but did wonders for finding a way to understand each other. For all the times I dreamt of finding an 8 year old Jack, now I have those prayers answered. Indie is a delight and has quickly taken me under her wing and accepted the fact that my right arm does not work and my left is limited so self carriage is kind of up to her and steering is sometimes by necessity voice activated! We rub along very well together and I'm excited by the idea of competition.
Indie's stable mate is Wilhemina. I have wanted to ride her since she arrived and happily taught her encouraging my friend to be brave and ride more forwards from the safety of the ground. The day came when it was my turn and it was a delight to discover she is not as fragile as she looks though her power level is unlike anything I've ever experienced. After a short time in walk I was beaming and so excited to be discovering a new horse's way of going. Trot was breathtaking and canter? Well let's just say when I'd recovered I'd resolved this was a horse worth going to the gym for.
The other horse is my life lives in a different county and takes my breath away too! He is called Hortelano and is an Andalucian working at medium. When I first rode him I was grinning even whilst wondering if I could cope with such a big horse, several circuits later and I recognised I would never forgive myself for not learning to. So we really are starting a new chapter. I rode him past some pigeons last week expecting the sky to fall and we continued calmly around the arena. That felt like a sign of approval. A new era.
No comments:
Post a Comment