Home Current News News Archive Shop/Advertise Ridecamp Classified Events Learn/AERC
Endurance.Net Home Ridecamp Archives
ridecamp@endurance.net
[Archives Index]   [Date Index]   [Thread Index]   [Author Index]   [Subject Index]

[RC] Never give up - LTYearwood

Hi everyone!

After all the questions I have asked you during the last couple of months, I 
have finally made some progress! (I'm a newbie). This "Ah-ha" moment came 
Sunday afternoon as I was riding my Arab (Vashka) with a friend who has always 
been a MUCH better rider than I. In fact she was so much better and so much 
faster I stopped riding with her and started taking dressage lessons and riding 
alone. It was lonely but I knew I needed to be safe and learn a lot more before 
re-joining her.

That's when I started talking to you guys, reading, taking riding lesson once 
a week, and riding everyday, and slowing down. 

Well, guess what? Sunday, when I rode with my friend in the park, I could 
actually control my horse!. (You may remember me as the woman with the bitless 
bridle). Turns out Vashka, who had a lot of training, always knew what to do. 
But I didn't. So when I learned, we began feeling that magic of what it is 
really like to be a team.

For those of you who have been riding for years and are pretty advanced, this 
may not seem like much. But for me, this moment was everything: Vashka and I, 
and my friend and her horse, riding through a huge, open field. She passes me 
at a fast gallop. I keep my heels down, my legs quiet, and my hands in line 
with his mouth (still no bit). And Vashka happily slows down! 

Then I tried it again, in case it was a fluke. But it worked again!

This horse and I have been through so much. He's my first horse ever (I'm 
37). He had been a western show horse who was lame when I bought him 
(unbenouced 
to me.) AND I thought he was English. So we went through accupuncture and 
stall rest and supplements to heal his sore back. Only it wasn't his back, it 
was 
his hock. So I treated his hock. Only his hock probelms were coming from bad 
shoeing (no heels). The vets said I would never be able to ride a 25 miler 
because Vashka would probablly never fully recover. 

So I took him for quiet rides in the park. Well, he loved it and we 
unkowingly rode toward his health. 

Then I found a great ferrier and a saddle that fit. And things REALLY started 
coming together.

I still have a lot to learn -- I haven't even done a 25 miler yet. But I 
understand even more now, about all the knowlege it takes to really ride a 
horse. 
And the dogged determinedness it takes to NOT instantly blame your horse when 
"behavioral problems" come up. 

Thank you everyone, for all the advice and support you have given me. A lot 
of it truly helped.

Lori


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

http://www.endurance.net/ads/seabiscuit.html

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=