Riding With my Friend

Yesterday and today, I rode with my friend, Virginia. I rode her gaited Foxtrotters, Danni and Annie. Even before Finny’s death, I was considering getting a gaited horse for the CTR’s. When Finny died, I didn’t want to ride any other of my horses. A week had gone by, and I was suppose to go riding with friends for 4 days. I had planned on camping at Turkey Creek. With Finny. Then I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to Turkey Creek. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to take another horse of mine if I did go.

Brenda W from Turkey Creek is selling some of her Tennessee Walking Horses. I made the decision to go, and not take horses, but ride some of Brenda’s that were for sale. I need to get a feel for the movement of gaited horses. The Walkers were smooth, and one filly especially moved out in a ground covering walk. But I needed to evaluate more horses.

I ride CTR’s with Virginia. She texted me Sunday morning to see if I wanted to come to her place and ride her horses. She knew I hadn’t gone back to riding any of my other horses. I had already made plans to go see a young Foxtrotter, so Virginia came with me to help evaluate her. Afterwards, I went to Virginia’s place to ride. Danni is Virginia’s CTR horse. Annie is a Foxtrotter, but she paces. I started the ride on Danni, than rode Annie. I need to get used to the movement of the gaited horses. I felt like I held a lot more with my legs. I had a hard time figuring out how much to hold and how to stay centered.

Today, I rode with Virginia again. I rode Annie the entire 2 hour ride. As I became comfortable riding her, I held her with a little more contact to control her speed, and she began to foxtrot instead of pace. The Foxtrot gait was so much smoother. The pace has the legs, on the same side of the body, moving at the same time. That gait is rough.

As I rode Annie with contact, she became smoother. There is a place on the trail that she likes to lope. She was very smooth. She was collected and light. Later, as she moved into the foxtrot, the movement was getting easier for me to feel and to ride. The movement was easier for me to achieve.

Yesterday and today, I enjoyed riding horses. They weren’t my horses, but they were horses. Maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to ride some of my own horses.

Come along on the ride with me. I’m ready to ride again.