Managing fear

R ended horse camp last week with a bucket-load of fear. She went back on Tuesday - did okay - and the same can be said for Wednesday. But on Thursday, there was another incident that caused her to be afraid again. It caused all the campers to be afraid, actually. So I got another call on Thursday morning and then she decided to not ride on Friday. And I totally understand.

But here's the kicker - she still wants to try riding! She just needs to find a horse and an environment that helps her feel safe and in control.

So good friend T has stepped up and offered lessons on her horses, which we took advantage of this morning.

R and Spirit on their first ride together.

T is a gentle teacher and is hopeful that R will fall in love with riding like the rest of us crazies. They spent the first 30 minutes of their lesson choosing a horse, brushing and generally getting to know Spirit, and then leading him around with the halter. Only then did R get to mount up. To help R relax, T showed her how he was really trying to do whatever R asked. She also got her to let go of her death grip on the horn by having her drop her reins and pretend to be an airplane, guiding the horse with only her legs and body movements.

At the end of the lesson, R was smiling. And on the way home, she was totally happy and asking to come back for more lessons and rides on Spirit. Thank you T!

R loves the dorsal stripe and zebra leg markings that Spirit has. So do I!

The Tunnel of Death

The kids heading out for camp instruction...

What a first day at horse camp....and not one I'd like to repeat. I'm sure R is thinking along the same lines.

The morning started off breezy (not a good thing), but bright. R caught Monte, nice and easy, and we loaded up and headed out to the first day of horse camp. I helped her unload and set up her stuff and then headed out for a trip to the grocery store.

As I was checking out at the store I decided to take a quick look at my phone - and then panicked when I saw a message from the camp instructor. R had been thrown - twice - and was on her way home with Dad.

So here's what happened: R saddled up (with help, of course) and easily mounted Monte and then headed out to the trail course. She immediately headed towards the tarp tunnel (a.k.a. "The Tunnel of Death" - at least according to Monte now!) - in hindsight, probably not the wisest choice. As they were standing at the entrance, a big gust of wind came up and the tunnel expanded into a huge horse-eating monster, which terrified Monte, who then proceeded to back up as fast as possible, leap over a pile of logs, dash off to a back corner of pasture, do a speedy 360, helicoptering R out of the saddle in the process. I hear the display was quite impressive. They even broke one of the reins.

The Tunnel of Death

There were tears (Of course! Who wouldn't cry after all that!), but R got back in the saddle and went out into the arena. All was going along smoothly for about another 10 minutes until other riders began to speed up. Well, Monte (who's still plenty amped up from the previous performance) decides that he needs to speed up too. And he kept speeding up, as R tried to (ineffectively/inexpertly) slow him down. Her death grip on the horn and with her thighs weren't helping much, unfortunately, and the end result is that she fell off again. After this fall, she was done for the morning - and it was only 10.

Luckily, there were no serious injuries but she does have a nasty bruise on her side and it now hurts to run or walk on uneven surfaces. And surprisingly, she wanted to come back to camp for a second day. What a tough girl! I am so impressed with her courage, 'cause heaven knows I probably wouldn't have gone back for round 2!

R's bruise. She also has a scraped up elbow and bruised knee.

The camp instructor has very generously offered up the use of her amazingly trained horse, Julima, for the remainder of camp week. R went out this morning, saddled Julima up, and tackled the trail course again. She even went through "The Tunnel of Death" with Julima. Did I mention how courageous she is?

R and Julima, getting their morning instructions.

R is scared, of course, and is pretty much keeping Julima in a slow, steady walk, but she's up there, conquering her fear and trying new things right along with the other kids.

A, handing a flag to R

At the end of the lesson today the kiddos were asked to show the instructors one new thing they learned to do with their horses that morning. R immediately came over to the side rail, picked up a flag, and proudly showed A that she can walk and trot while holding the flag. We were all very proud of her today.

R & Julima, doing parade practice. :)

Back in the saddle again?

R recently announced that she would like to start riding again. I was totally surprised - and very happy! I so want to share my joy with horses with both my daughters, but have been very careful to not force either one into the activity.

Anyway, Monte being our only horse at the moment, R went out and had her first real ride on him yesterday. We saddled him up, shortened the stirrups (by 6 holes - and shoulda gone up at least one more really!) and led the horse and rider to the round pen.

Now, R has been up on Monte before - usually on lead-line and one other time in the round pen. But this ride was to be a test of sorts. In the past, E has ridden him first to get all his tricks worked out and quite honestly, to tire him a bit as well. Yesterday we decided that R should be the first rider so we could find out if he will attend to her without the prep and to make sure she could stay in charge as well. And they did fine.

Since R is a beginner, and Monte is pretty much a one-person-horse at this time, the pony was very confused by the cues (or lack of!) being given. It took R a bit to turn him and in the end she had to just pull his head in the direction she wanted to go. But she could steer. And go. And most importantly, stop.

Then she asked if she could go out in the big arena. I was a bit nervous (There are so many spooky things out there! - according to Monte, anyway!), but said yes. R calmly entered the arena, I gave her a pattern to follow.....and she did it!



Monte drags his feet terribly while she is riding and he did little naughty things like rub her leg up on the fence. But he didn't bolt, or try to even go faster, and in the end he basically did whatever R asked. I couldn't ask for much more at this point.

Monte took R through a tall bush - bad pony! - and got a mane and tail full of flowers for his effort!

So.....here's the big news....R gets to go to horse camp next week! The same camp that helped E learn to ride and really cemented her bond with Curly in the very beginning. Both R and I are really excited.

And I have my fingers crossed that Mr. Monte keeps his head the whole week and doesn't do anything stupid to scare my newest rider. I really want her to like this.....