I rode!

Ugh.

That about sums it up. I'm bone tired, and of course, my mind won't shut off enough for me to take a nap. This blog entry might be boring for some of you, but when it comes to horses, I don't know when to shut up. :)

I showed up to their place around 7:45, and Richard (the trainer) was teaching someone riding a fancy-looking horse in a double bridle. I sat near the arena and watched. They did a few flying changes, and a piaffe at the end. Most consider the piaffe the most difficult movement in dressage, performed only at the upper levels. Basically, the horse trots in one place--sounds simple, but it's extremely difficult to do correctly. I've never even come close to doing one, but I've developed a good enough eye that I can usually tell when it's correct and when it isn't. This horse's piaffe wasn't the best, but it wasn't bad. There were several times when the rider would say, "Richard shut up," and he'd keep right on talking and giving commands. I thought to myself, that has got to be his wife, and she was, lol.

So, I watched someone else ride another horse named Dansk. I can't remember his breed, but he had a "baby face" and lots of white. He's apparently trained to Fourth Level, which is about middle of the scale, but still more advanced than nearly all the horses I've ridden. She rode him for about 20-30 minutes. She had troubles keeping him straight, and at one point, he wouldn't go forward from a halt. He crow-hopped a few times, threw in a few very mild rears/jumps with her. Poor girl. Then I was told to get on. Wee! Actually, I was a little nervous at first, as I usually am when I get on a horse I've never ridden. But wow, he was like... riding butter. I can't describe it. Normally with a horse that has good movements/gaits (which Dansk does), they're very "bouncy" and it's hard to keep your ass in the saddle. Not this guy. He was as smooth as a rocking horse, and his gaits fit me to a T. It took all of my abdominal strength to keep him "under control" though. We tried leg-yielding, and going one way, he kept trying to speed up, but the other way, the leg-yields were very good. Richard yelled at me to quit "chasing him" but I swear, I wasn't. We did some shoulder ins too. He kicked out a few times in the canter, but nothing too major.

After Dansk, I rode Antares, a 3-year-old that had apparently just been backed (meaning, had a rider on for the first time) not too long ago. He's going to be a big horse someday. He already is big. I made a few mistakes on him. The arena they have is bordered with two to three layers of railroad ties, so it's not very high. One spot in particular, Antares decided to bow out and left the arena altogether. Sigh. He did this quite a few times with me. Guess he found a weakness in me and decided to exploit it. ;) It got rather frustrating, but we eventually rode through it.

Richard's comments on my riding: "You're not an advanced rider [I knew this], but you're a talented rider. You're comfortable on a horse, and that's something that can't be taught." I took this as a big compliment. He said, "You're not a klutz, otherwise I would have said 'thanks but no'." Haha. Actually, I am a klutz, but I think what he meant was I look like I belong on a horse. With some riders, they look so... odd when riding. I can't describe it. Even though they've been riding for years, you wonder why they're still doing it, because it looks so strange. Anyway, basically he's looking for a rider that can ride his young horses without having to worry whether he/she will screw his horses up. I can't promise that I won't screw them up, but I can promise that I'll try not to. ;) I've ridden young horses before, and so far, all of his horses seem pretty damn tame compared to the ones I've been on.

They have a few other horses they're planning on putting me on, including a gorgeous chestnut mare. Uh oh... I have a thing for chestnut mares. :D