Everybody, Change Partners!

Earlier this year I started planting the seed in his head to ride KC. He has never done this. In February we went for a ride with friends in Patapsco River S.P. In the open field, hours into the ride, we all decided to canter up the hill to the turn off for the short cut. KC decided he would rather buck at this point. I pulled him into the one-rein stop and we crashed into some saplings. Everybody thought my riding skills were great (I did not fall off), but I was unnerved after that. After that episode he did not buck again, no matter how many canters up hills and through the woods we took. We were trimming along a favorite trail a couple months later and I got on Skip. Skip was like, "what are you doing up there?" He at first did not notice (both are chestnuts) until he tried to put his tools way in his saddle bags. Where are my saddle bags? He didn't want to get on KC so I dropped off of Skip. All this year I have been riding without my hands on the reins. I just leave them looped on the saddle horn. I use my legs to guide him and make noises for the speed or gait. No matter how hard I push him or kick him his forward speed does not change. I continued to offer him the opportunity to ride KC, he always declined. A couple weeks ago we were alone together, riding to the Woodstock Inn. We were on a fairly flat, mostly straight stretch right before the pipeline crossing. We were enjoying a nice canter, I didn't have the reins in my hand and ducks his head down and starts bucking. Wha!! (I did not fall off.) He's never going to want to ride this unpredictable horse! KC has got to stop randomly bucking, too, although he is not bucking as hard as he did when he was younger. On this beautiful Equinox Thursday the four of us went for the 'short' ride, went on trails we had not previously been on, but when the rest of the group headed back to camp we decided to keep going and find a good place for lunch. According to Martin's GPS a river was down the hill, through a nice meadow with random trees. We let them eat grass the whole way down, too. The 'river' was barely a spit of water, easily straddled. On the GPS it looked much bigger! We had a nice lunch, the four horses enjoyed the break. We then decided to switch horses!

It was really weird seeing him on a shorter horse, and riding Skip was pretty incredible! He complained about my saddle, didn't find it comfortable, hitting him in his butt. I didn't like his saddle; it was too big for me. I had on a belt with a big blingy buckle. The seat was so big that I kept sliding forward into the horn. I put my hand between the buckle and the horn and ended up smashing my hand, over and over. Skip is a fun ride. I felt giddy and euphoric with him. I might as well have been drunk.