Sand Arenas

I've been trying to make it out to the barn on a regular basis (regular basis means once a week), 'cause it's so good for my sanity. This weekend was no exception. I went out this morning and rode a couple of horses - Samson and Tucker.

Samson and I had a pretty good ride, as usual. He started out a bit nervous, though, because the owner of the place is now leasing a huge pasture behind the barn (and the cross-tie area). This means that while the horses are being groomed and such, the horses enjoying the new football-sized pasture are tearing around and kicking their heels up. Everyone will get used to it, but in the meantime, it was lots of whinnies and nervous energy.

Ol' Sam tho always irons himself out. By the time we got to the arena he was fine. But then, on to another challenge - the lawn mower. The barn hand tried to turn it off as I went by, but I signaled to him to keep it on, thinking Sam would be fine. Sure he was. We were doing some trotting exercises nicely around the arena, and we were pretty well in sync. Then, asking for the canter on a circle, he stepped into a stride or two, then promptly spooked to the side to avoid going near the lawn mower (which...was on the opposite side of the arena). I kept riding the circle on some sort of imaginary horse, and landed nicely in the sand with a soft thud.

Of course, every time you fall off, the horse looks down at you like "what are you doing down there?" Sam is certainly no exception, but he had such a sweet look on his face that I just laughed and patted the poor guy. Then I hopped back on and we went about our way.

Honestly, it was nice to fall in such a good way, because I was way overdue for my next. Thank goodness for sand arenas!

Then on to Tucker, who is a young 'un who just loves to test you to see if you'll let him leave hoofprints on your back. We had a wonderful ride, after getting a few things straight. Funniest thing was his canter. He wasn't too interested in trying to balance a rider on his back, so his canter strides were more like bucking-strides. It was actually kind of fun (cause his bucks are so manageable), and a good lesson because he learned he couldn't get out of it by bucking. After a few tries, we got a nice canter in. Then a long rein and a pat of gratitude.

The after-ride process is just as gratifying as the riding itself. It's always nice to know you are showing the horse how appreciative you are of him; to give something back. The rub-down, hose-down, and hanging out with him while he grazes. Then the final pat before you two go your separate ways until next week.

Now the rest of the week will be a little brighter.