Warning: If you do not like horses, DO NOT READ!
Yesterday I decided to do something fun with two of my little sisters. So I told them we’d have riding lessons at 2:45pm. They got their horses out and were warming up in the arena when I walked in to start the lessons. It was really fun to do, but I wasn‘t sure exactly what to work on with them. The only type of lessons I‘ve seen were English (The Saddle Club!) and all they do is trot around focusing on the seat and posture or they were jumping. Well we ride western. Not pleasure, more like a performance style, cattle work, with working horses. (If you’re bored you better quit reading because it gets worse.)
Anyway back to the lessons. I started out by writing up a chart listing all the different things I was going to have them do, such as: walk, trot, canter, bend, flex, side pass, do the gate, and other things. Then I rated them on how well they controlled their horse while doing these things.
Marcy had a much easier time than Jessica, because she was riding Hank. He was just calm, cool, and collected, whereas Dandy (who Jess was riding) was more energetic than usual. He’s also not as…um how do I say it? Not as…handy as Hank is. (If you remember back to THIS post I talked about working with Hank.) It still amazes me how far Hank has come and how confident he is now. Next time I will have to switch the girls and horses I think. Marcy is older and therefore has been riding more so she should have an easier time with Dandy than Jess did.
Ok you may be wondering what I meant by ’more handy.’ Well in my opinion Dandy is just a whatever horse. Anyone can ride him because he doesn't have any special buttons. But he is great for me to get out and go anywhere I want, any time I want, even if no one else is along. His problem is he's not very precise. His stop is pretty sloppy, for most people. (I say it that way because I don't have a whole lot of problem riding him, he's just not as fun.)
Hank on the other hand enjoys making people look stupid. If you don't know what you are doing you aren't going to get much out of him. (But I love to ride him!) He knows how to swivel on his hindquarters and his stop is getting impressive. (Nothing like the reiners, but its good compared to most.) He neck reins and regular or 'plow' reins. He also can be ridden with just your legs.
Dandy though, I just figured out, is very good to ride English. He has smooth long strides so you can sit to it really well. He also can't do sliding stops or rollbacks so you don't have to worry about quick maneuvers that will send you at high rates of speed to the ground. Maybe he was ridden English before? I don't know but I kinda doubt it because he's from out in Illinois.
So I'd like to know about ya'll!
Do you ride?
English or Western?
What breed is your favorite?
If you ride, what do you do with your horse?
