Miles Learns the Ropes....

Miles leading Shorty





Miles looking proud of his accomplishments!

Me, Jacks, Miles and Shorty....

Jackson and I---I like this picture!!!

On Saturday Miles and I trekked out to my friend Linda's house to go riding. After riding double with Linda two weeks ago, Miles has been open to the idea of riding his own horse which has not always been the case. He has been a bit frightened of Jackson after hearing about my accident when I broke my shoulder last year, and has been a bit "shy" around most horses. Also, when I was at my boarding barn, it just worked out that no one had a horse around that was safe enough for a kid at that time. Fortunately for us, Linda has Shorty and he is a dream to ride, safe enough to put my 12 year old beginner on. We had Miles go with us into the field to help us catch Shorty. I am so thankful to have Linda around because she is so good at teaching! I always marvel at her at work with new nurses, (we work in a fast paced newborn nursery where we both work in admissions and as charge nurses) and she was the same with my son. Very good at breaking down the need to know from the stuff you will learn later. And she is so patient! So we caught the horses and she had Miles brush Shorty and then she tacked him up while showing him what she was doing and why. I would like him to learn to ride English, but since Western is so much easier for a morale boosting first ride, and this was not a formal learning session, we did the Western tack. He seems to be a natural in the saddle, but I'm sure this is just the mom in me talking! (Big grin!). We walked the horses over to Lorri's house which is about a mile down the road and Miles elected to get off and play with the dogs and the chickens while we did round pen work and work in her dressage arena. Lorri straightened out the issues I was having with my Pelham bit (fixing the fact that I had the darn thing on BACKWARDS---oh well, I learn, I learn, I learn!!) and then took him around the arena for 15 min. or so while I got to ride her AngloArab Ozzie. Shouldn't have done that! :) That horse is the perfect responsive horse---a testament to Lorri who has raised her up from a baby--- and goes on the aids with the perfect headset and is just a dream to ride. I was able to feel how Jackson will feel when I get him to that point. She is also an AngloArab so it was pretty neat! She got Jacks used to his new bit (he had a bit of a FIT and she won't tolerate it like I tend to...)and he then trotted out for me perfectly with a bit more bend in his neck. I just purchased a chambon to use while lungeing (thank you Eventing A GoG0) to help with the headset, neck muscles and to help with his hollow back. Anyone with advice please comment because I am not a trainer and learn from much reading, trial and error, and thank you lord that Lorri and Linda have started horses! Sooo, on the way home Miles got back on Shorty and when Linda asked him if he wanted to trot, we heard a resounding, "Yes!" He had perma-grin on the whole time. So, maybe I'll have a riding companion in my son yet. I sure hope so!

Miles has a ride!

On Friday, full of post Thanksgiving energy and with the weather a balmy 75 degrees Miles and I set out for an afternoon at Linda's. Miles has always been a bit tenative around horses and since Jackson isn't ready for kiddos yet, Miles usually stays around the ranch while we go and ride. Today, Linda threw him up behind her on Red--her Missouri Fox Trotter--for a ride over to her friend Lorrie's house who lives about two miles away through the back fields. Once getting there, Linda, Lorrie and I planned on doing lunge line work and working in her dressage arena. Miles was going to get to explore Lorrie's barn and play with the chickens and such. He had an even bigger treat waiting for him in the form of Lorrie's husband, Kalen. Kalen is a very fascinating guy with a wide variety of out of the ordinary interests. Miles learned all about how he grows bamboo and cactus--about 10 different varieties of bamboo alone--and started to grow the bamboo as a privacy fence between him and an annoying neighbor because it grows so fast, and then went on to join the local bamboo society! Intersting right? They also looked at Kalen's scythe which he uses to chop down the weeds in their fields, chopped the head off of some dead racoon skeleton's for Kalen's skull collection with an axe, looked at Kalen's giant boa constrictor, and cut up pieces of metal pipe on a "very fast saw," as Miles put it. Kalen also showed Miles a few magic tricks. I'm sure there was more, but I do know that the two spent a very content two and a half hours "being boys!" Miles had a ball! We girls, in our own bit of fun, started out with Lorrie and I in the dressage arena and Linda lungeing Red. We are so into our trail rides, we have not been working on the important stuff like transitions, flexing, and FORM.... Since I still consider myself as green as my horse (have you ever noticed what a terrific rider you are on a perfectly schooled horse and how little you seem to know and how bad your once "perfect form" becomes on the untrained one you bought? grin....) we need lots of work in many areas and will be taking up "official lessons" with a dressage teacher again in the spring. Lorrie is a terrific teacher too, she spent an hour with Jackson and I on the lunge line at the trot and we both got to work on how sore we were going to be for the next few days....hee hee..... I thought I had come a long way with my leg and getting back in shape until I trotted for an hour. But I am getting much better because my legs didn't turn into spaghetti until the last 5 minutes of that hour, and I can feel the difference from six months ago when I NEVER would have been able to trot for a full on hour in a circle, I would have fallen out of the saddle! But it was a great and much needed work out. The hands on the hips part was hard , but ultimately fine. Of course, as always, the trust thing is hard at first. Especially since I got dumped just last week. (Just a bad spook on a very fresh horse, nothing that was really my horse's fault...) Of course, when it came to the lungeing with my hands on my hips, it was me who had the issues, Jackson my wonderful horse took it all in stride!!!! He learns so fast and just wants to please. I have a magnificent horse in the rough and hope I can do justice to him!! We all had fun, and it has been worth the pain! Plan to ride again on Monday....oh Ibuprofen my BEST friend.....

Linda on Red....

Me on Jacks..