It’s a good ride until I get greedy

Grace and I have had some stellar rides the last few days. The weather has been picture perfect, sunny and up to 60 degrees. I dragged the arena on Saturday morning and had first tracks for our ride that morning. I rode in the bridle and bridleless both days and thought I had filmed some of our best work yet. Much to my disappointment the video turned out blurry, so tonight when I had the right SD card, I set off to capture what we had been working on.


The jog work was really nice, I’m able to steer Grace all over the arena with just my body. My free hand is starting to make sense to me; it turns out having my elbow bent like I would when I ride two handed isn’t just for looks, it makes a huge difference in my balance. I’d still like to see us both loosen up and not be so stiff, but then again I have to remember the giant strides we’ve made in the last year.

I could have stopped there and called it a day, but we had such a good lope the day before without the bridle I just had to try it again. Grace gave me 5 strides of a really nice in the ground lope before breaking to a jog. I should have listened to her then, and known that she was working hard. But no, I had to push it – this happens every time we achieve something new – I get greedy.

I pushed Grace past the spot where she felt the need to break, she then lost her balance. Since I wasn’t able to pick her up with my hands, she started to rush. Fear stepped in and I used my spur stop to bring her to a halt. We loped off again, had a good stride or two before it fell apart again, this time when I asked Grace to stop she let me know loud and clear that I had pushed it too far. I didn’t get on her case because I knew immediately that it was my fault. I got caught up with the bells and whistles and stepped away from the foundation. The difference this time is that it only lasted for 30 seconds, before I got off, but the bridle back on and fixed the damage. I hope there is a day in my horsemanship journey when I can learn something new without getting greedy with it.