No steering required

I'm still having trouble figuring out this whole posting thing. I'll be in sync for a few strides and then I completely fall apart and begin to just bounce along. Not very pretty and not very comfortable!

Trying to find a solution to my issues, I rode Cathy's horse Traveler on Saturday. Traveler is a very calm quarter horse who has packed many children around. He's about as opposite of Zoe as you can get in quite a few (important) ways, the most important of which for me is that he's not super responsive and hot. I had to actually kick to just get him moving at a walk, and finally resorted to using a crop to get him to pick up a trot. My legs were so tired after my short ride on him because I had to apply constant pressure to get him to go where I wanted - so much work! I found that I much prefer Zoe's reactive, seemingly psychic ways! I also discovered that I prefer to ride a horse who is "uphill" rather than downhill like Traveler; I felt like I was going to just slide down his neck whenever he put his head down!

After my ride on Traveler (in which I didn't practice posting much because it was so hard to get him to trot!), I pulled Zoe out. By this time my thigh muscles were worn out. And guess what - my ride on Zoe was one of the best I had had so far! My hunch is that the usual tension in my legs was missing, so she was happier. We trotted around a bit, but I was finding it difficult to steer and post at the same time (she still wasn't keeping a steady pace). At one point Zoe did take off into a canter for a few strides, freaking me out, but I managed to slow her back down and continue on.

On Sunday, I decided to try longing her in the arena (the round pen was occupied) and discovered that she definitely has that skill. I was able to control her speed and direction fairly easily. When another barn resident, Angelia, heard this she offered to longe Zoe while I was riding so that I could practice posting without worrying about steering. I was nervous, but soon found that this was a perfect solution. Zoe kept a better pace and stayed on a nice circle and I had time to figure out just what the heck I was supposed to do (not that I did ever get it totally right for more than a few seconds!)

I will definitely be using this method again soon!

Small town

On Friday, I chaperoned a middle school trip to Spokane. I had the privilege of riding a school bus 2.5 hours (each way!) to go see the musical "Wicked." Totally worth it!

While chatting with other parents on the bus, it came out that we have horses. One woman, Kim, asked what kind and when I replied Arabs, she said that she had leased an Arab/Lippizaner cross. Amazed, I told her that that was what I owned, to which she asked, "Do you have Zoe?!"

Come to find out, Kim had leased Zoe for a year, learning to ride Western. It was nice to hear more about my horse (she had many of the same impressions I have had - super responsive, almost psychic in fact; hot and spooky; generally kind; very smart) She added that Zoe was pretty awful at trail riding with her and that Zoe also had a very good work ethic. Kim also said that occasionally she would unintentially do something that would elicit fancy dressage movements in Zoe. I would love to see a rider proficient in dressage ride my horse; I so want to know the extent of her talent!