The past two weeks have been pretty busy. On Wednesday I have a riding lesson, and on Fridays I try to go to the ranch.were I have my horse riding lessons. Sometimes my friend comes and helps me clean cobwebs from the stalls. I also get to lunge horses when I go.
I will tell about two weeks and then about this past week's lesson. It all started almost normally. I had to get a different horse to ride on. He was at least 16 hands and weighed over 1,000 pounds. He was a big horse. I got all of his tack on after I brushed him and cleaned out his feet. My teacher Samantha told me she was going to get another horse for another student. She got the horse all taken care of. The other student showed up. While Samantha and the other student were getting ready, I lunged the horse that I was going to be using. The horse was meant for western pleasure. He is not like Skylar. His walk is slower and he does not respond like Skylar does. When the other student was ready, Samantha had us get onto our horses and start walking around the arena. I could not get onto my horse without a mounting block. He was so tall! After I got on I had him walk. We then went into the trot. Samantha had me lope while she worked with the other student. The other student was having a little bit of trouble with the trot. Who could blame her? She had just started working on the trot I think. I think it took me a couple of months to start getting the hang of the trot. I still have trouble remembering to keep my heels down. So while Samantha worked with the other student on the trot, I worked on the lope. It is hard for me to get the horse into a lope and stay loping until I ask it to stop. I like loping. The motion is like being on a rocking chair. . After that Samantha got out cones and we did weaving. First it was at a trot, Then it went into a lope for me. When we got all done with that we ended the lesson. I had to get home early that night so I did not get to stay and play guitar. I would have gone to the barn on Friday, but my sister had to take a test in Worthington, MN. My sister and I went and I read while she was taking her test.
Wednesday of this week I went again for my lesson. When I got to the ranch, The other student that I had lessons with the previous week was there getting her horse into a halter. Samantha told me that I was going to be riding the same horse I rode last week. I got him into a halter and brought him to a place where I could tie him up. After I tied him up, I brushed him and put on his tack. Once I was done putting his tack on I led him into the arena and lunged him. When the other student came in she lunged her horse. It is sometimes difficult to when you are sharing an arena to be careful of the other horse and rider. We got onto our horses. It was difficult for me once again. I had to use the mounting block. After we rode around a bit Samantha had me get off so that she could show us something. I did manage to get on the horse again without the mounting block. I had some help. Samantha got out poles so we could weave in and out of them. I had to trot and then lope back. I had a little time to myself to trot and lope while Samantha worked with the other student. Once she was done she helped me with my loping. Once we were done we put the poles away and I did play my guitar for a few minutes. I did agree with Samantha to meet her on Friday.
On Friday Samantha called later than usual. She said that she and another lady were bringing a mare and a colt. I called my friend to see if he wanted to come. He and I worked on cobwebs until Samantha came. They unloaded the horses. On Monday they will be weaning the colt. She had me lunge a horse called Tinker. The horse is very nice. It is a really funny horse. You ask the horse to walk and she immediately starts to trot. After I got done I had to go. I can not wait to see what we will do this Wednesday.
