The saddler is coming tomorrow, but I am not sanguine about my saddle fitting Sid. He is sooo wide (and fat). Today I decided not to wait. I put the bareback pad and bridle on him and took him for a walk. At one of the deeper gullies I mucked around with him, leaning over and fussing with the pad, and he stood like a rock, so I just slipped on.
I only rode him for 5 minutes as he is newly barefoot and still getting into what it's like walking without shoes. But I could easily have stayed on longer! He was steady and solid as a rock and sooo comfortable, even though he is wide. I was, honestly, really nervous, and uncertain of my position, and every time I shifted to correct it he slowed up and put an ear back to me as if to say, "You OK back there?" You can tell he's taught kids to ride for years.
It was so nice that I started thinking about some goals for us, just to have something to aim for. I already have one! I'm limited because I have no transport, but every year on Good Friday the RDA run a sponsored ride, starting only a 20 minute hack away. It's 11 miles through forest and over the fields where they train the racehorses, where there are lots of logs and little cross-country jumps. I always meant to do it on Ziggy and never did, because by the time my confidence was high enough his lami attacks had started in the Spring. So next year I am going to do it on Sid! And we will jump the jumps!
I'm not sure what else I could aim for. There are a couple of local shows within easy hacking distance, but I don't really fancy showing him and I think I'm too old to ride him in the handy/family pony class! There's also a yard nearby that does clear round jumping at the weekends all through the summer. I don't know what that is, but is that something we could aim for? Sid likes to jump.
Any other ideas? I'd love to do Trec, but there's not a lot of that sort of thing within riding distance
Watch out for ear shots coming to this forum soon!
I only rode him for 5 minutes as he is newly barefoot and still getting into what it's like walking without shoes. But I could easily have stayed on longer! He was steady and solid as a rock and sooo comfortable, even though he is wide. I was, honestly, really nervous, and uncertain of my position, and every time I shifted to correct it he slowed up and put an ear back to me as if to say, "You OK back there?" You can tell he's taught kids to ride for years.
It was so nice that I started thinking about some goals for us, just to have something to aim for. I already have one! I'm limited because I have no transport, but every year on Good Friday the RDA run a sponsored ride, starting only a 20 minute hack away. It's 11 miles through forest and over the fields where they train the racehorses, where there are lots of logs and little cross-country jumps. I always meant to do it on Ziggy and never did, because by the time my confidence was high enough his lami attacks had started in the Spring. So next year I am going to do it on Sid! And we will jump the jumps!
I'm not sure what else I could aim for. There are a couple of local shows within easy hacking distance, but I don't really fancy showing him and I think I'm too old to ride him in the handy/family pony class! There's also a yard nearby that does clear round jumping at the weekends all through the summer. I don't know what that is, but is that something we could aim for? Sid likes to jump.
Any other ideas? I'd love to do Trec, but there's not a lot of that sort of thing within riding distance
Watch out for ear shots coming to this forum soon!