Wednesday and Today

   I will start with an account of what happened on Wednesday during my riding lesson and then move on to tell about what I did today. I have lessons every week on Wednesday. I really do enjoy them. They are a nice little break from school. It is especially nice when the sun is setting and you are walking on your horse at a nice leisurely pace. So now on to my lesson.

   Wednesday started out a little chilly, but after a little while it got a little better. I went to the barn where I have lessons and went and got the horse I would be using his name is Skylar. He is a beautiful Paint. After I got him out I led to a place where I could tie him up and brush him and put on his tack. Once this was done I led him into the arena where I could ride him. I have a tendency to not check the cinch on the saddle to make sure it is tight so that the saddle will not move or anything like that when I get on. It has happened to me more that once. So I knew that this time I would make sure I would check it. Well, I almost forgot, but I did at the last minute remember to tighten it. After I got on I realized I forgot another thing. I forgot to put my spurs on. Skylar is a really nice horse but he can also be lazy. So then I had to get my spurs on and get back on. I did that and began riding. As I was riding I was thinking wow I can feel the wind in my hair. How odd because I usually do not feel that. Well, I did forget another thing and that was my helmet.It did seem like a lot of getting on and getting off. It is definitely great exercise to get on and off a horse.So after I made sure that I did not forget anything else I got on once more and stayed on until the end of the lesson. During the lesson I learned how to turn on the fore end and the hind end. It is not as easy as I thought it might be. We also did the usual trotting, loping, and at the end, galloping. After the lesson ended my teacher let me help her lunge a couple of horses that she is training. I really do enjoy lunging. I asked her if I could come back on Friday to help with the horses and anything else I could do.

   When I came back to the ranch today I brought a friend along. We got the nice task of sweeping cobwebs from the stalls and  ceiling. It is not a bad sort of job if you have a friend to talk to while doing it.Once we finished the first row of stalls we stopped for the day and went on to another job of helping feed a couple of horses. I asked my teacher whether it would be okay if I could ride Skylar today. She of course said yes. It is nice to have a teacher who is willing to share her horse even when we are not in lessons. She also let my friend ride him. I grabbed Skylar and did the usual routine: brushing, cleaning out his hooves, putting on the saddle and bridle. After that I got on him and rode him around. I did the usual with him as I would do in a lesson. I made him walk for a little bit and then made him trot and lope. He was really not  wanting to obey today. I got off so that my friend could have a turn. let him go at his own and first, but it did seem that Skylar really did not want to obey. So then I suggested that I put him on a lunge rope and see if he would obey with my friend. And also so that if anything did go wrong (like him bursting into a lope) I could have control. Nothing did go wrong so I had my friend jump off, and I lunged him as I should have at first. That went okay for the most part. I did get on him and rode him around to see if he was more obedient. He was until I got off. My friend I must say did a great job with such a funny horse. I hope that he will want to come back to the barn with me in the future.