Grace's First Ride

No photos today since I was heeding Grace's counsel to be the trainer and not the documentarian.  We groomed at the hitch rail, got her tacked up in a bareback pad and her bridle, then headed to the round pen.  I don't have a saddle for her yet, so we just made do with what we have.  Once in the round pen she did a bit of walking and trotting, she totally understands the words walk, trot, whoa, reverse.  I had my wide mounting block in the round pen with us, so that merited an examination.  After she was warmed up I then got on the mounting block and continued to lunge her from there.  I like to do this so the horse gets used to seeing me up high while they are moving.

Then I asked Grace to come into the center of the round pen with me on the block, and she sidled right up to me.  Miles my border collie is a huge help with starting the horses under saddle.  When I'm doing the mounting block training he stands nearby and if I need help he'll go stand by the horse's head to keep them still.  I didn't need him for that today, Grace is very steady, so Miles just laid down a little distance from us to watch and await the call for border collie assistance.  From the mounting block I leaned over Grace's back and patted and rubbed her on both her left and right sides.  She had plenty of time to look at me out of each eyeball, and I leaned over from the left, then turned her around and did the same from the right.  Then we turned around again, and I put one leg over her back while standing on the mounting block.  I'm pretty flexible, so this isn't a big deal for me, but to see a boot randomly appear on the side opposite where I'm standing is always a bit disconcerting to the horse. 

When Grace was bored with me hanging on her and draping body parts onto the bareback pad I put my leg over, then hopped up.  Without stirrups it was a little bit of a scramble.  She scooted forwards a few steps, then hopped in a small circle, which served to bounce me into place on her back.  I had a hold of my reins and I just kept talking to her, she stopped right away and we just stood there for a few minutes while she collected her thoughts.  When she had relaxed, I asked her to walk forward using my voice commands.  She took a tiny step with her right front foot, so I praised her and told her how good she was.  I asked again for her to go forwards, and she took another tiny step with her left front foot.  Again, praise and pats.  When Miles saw that she didn't really "get it", he calmly got up and stood in front of us, looking at Grace and then walking forwards.  She put her head down and followed him.  Once I had her walking forwards Miles went back to lying down in the round pen by the mounting block.  Grace totally remembered everything we had done yesterday with the ground driving, so her steering was excellent.  Over the course of the ride we walked figure eights, did small and large circles both directions, reversed by walking through the middle of the round pen, and even started basic pivots.  We practiced some starts and stops, only needing a little help from Miles to clarify, and then I dismounted on her right side.  She heaved a huge sigh and I gave her a whole handful of treats.  SUCH a brave and smart girl! 

She was a little sweaty, but only around her ears.  I affectionately call this "brain sweat", since it seems to happen whenever a horse has had a really mentally challenging session.  One of the many perks of a draft horse brain is that they usually don't need to physically work hard to understand something.  If it's presented logically and in a calm manner a draft horse will usually just figure out what you want and go along with it.  Grace is wonderful this way, tolerating all the weird things this human has done to her in under a week, and even seems to enjoy the schooling since she comes to me when I call her from the gate. 

After we were done I was repairing some fencing with my sweet husband in the arena and I got a return call from Jen with The Happy Horse Tack Shop in Fort Collins.  I had called her earlier this morning asking about what her saddle inventory looks like for a horse like Grace, and left details on sizing in my message. We are SO fortunate to have Jen and Happy Horse Tack in our little horse community, she had a saddle that we suspect will work really well, and she'll be able to bring it by on Wednesday morning!  She was very interested in supporting the Equine Comeback Challenge, and thinks this is a great program to showcase how lovely horses from rescues can be.  If it fits and Grace likes it, I'll be borrowing this jumping saddle to use through horse expo in March.  I hope it works well, so poor tolerant Gracie won't have to put up with me scrambling onto her back every time to mount.  Exciting!