Riding Begins!

Monday
Today was the first day of our riding course. Our filter for the week is bridle-less riding. How fun is that! Of course, I don’t have any plans that we will be riding bridle-less by the end of the week, but I will at least have the information and knowledge to prepare for it once we get home.

Our morning was spent in the classroom, and it was probably the best day that we have had thus far. Our morning demo was incredibly informative and inspirational. I can’t even begin to describe the impact that it had on me. Kristi and her horse showed us how good things can be, and she broke it down into easy steps that we all can follow. She basically went through everything from catching your horse, to warming them up, to saddling, bridling, and mounting, and then preparing for bridle-less riding. She outlined and demonstrated all of the pre-flight checks that you do before and after mounting. Some of it was a review, but there were nuances there that I had not picked up before. The most important thing is to really be aware of all the small opposition reflexes that your horse gives you. Everything means something! I realized how many things I ignore or push aside, and how many short cuts I take when preparing my horse for a ride. There is a reason to have a pattern and a system for everything. At this level of horsemanship, excellence is what we want, and we shouldn’t settle for anything less—for ourselves or our horses.

I won’t go into any more details of the actual demo. We can have that conversation some other time...Needless to say, we went off to lunch completely inspired and ready to take on the rest of the day.

Josie and I took part in the bridling focus session. She did really great! I am so used to riding her in her halter or hackamore, and I have not been using a bridle very much. She hasn’t been the biggest fan of the bridle or bit. I think our relationship has grown to a point that it isn’t such a big deal any more. I took it as a good gauge of the trust that I have earned from her that she was so accepting of it today. We ended the day by having a short ride in the 100 foot round pen. We didn’t do anything too demanding, but I’ll have to say it felt pretty darn good to be up on her back after doing a week of ground work!

I look forward to the rest of the week. We have some really interesting focus sessions planned for this week. I’m sure I’ll keep you updated!

Savvy on,
Molly and Josie