E's first ride

Curly was saddled up this afternoon by daughter Emily for the first time. He wasn't too happy about the bridle and bit, but she managed with some help from her horse coach. It quickly became obvious that while sweet in temperament, Curly does have some bad habits. Like not respecting your space, not cooperating completely during the whole bridle routine, and constantly trying to eat any grass around him. He's a trail horse who hasn't been used too much in the past year...

During the past few months I've gotten over the anxiety I feel watching my baby ride these powerful animals. I trust that she (and her coach!) knows what she's doing and that the horses themselves really don't want to hurt her. Well, the anxiety was back a bit today. Curly is a complete unknown quantity... but all went well. He's never been a 4-H project horse or done shows, so he's unfamiliar with the skills and signals that Emily expects him to know and respond to. It will take a HUGE amount of training and just plain ol' hard work to get him up to show-readiness. But they both did very well today. He learned a few things and she stuck with it and even seemed to enjoy the ride.



Emily then worked Curly in the round pen. The poor guy is, well, fat. So he's being put on a diet and Emily has been instructed to end every ride with a 20 minute jog in the pen. He was VERY sweaty by the time she stopped him. But it will be good for him. Now if only I had someone forcing me to jog for 20 minutes every day...

On the way home from the stable I asked Emily if this is what she wanted. She gave a very clear-eyed assessment of what the challenges would be - I was impressed that she wasn't thinking only with her heart. She also said that she would like a few more days before she makes up her mind about Curly. I have to admit that I am very proud of her response at the moment - so mature for a preteen!

Curly needs to have his hooves trimmed very badly, so we are trying to get the farrier out in the next day or so. He seemed to favor his right front leg a bit - perhaps because of the long hooves. But we need to be sure it is something so simple before we purchase him. A vet appointment has also been made for later this week....