FestiveFuzz
Well-Known Member
So...dare I say it? I think I may have found my confidence! That or my pony has magically stopped napping of his own free will!
Today I decided I was going to hack out alone for the first time from the new yard. We've been there a few weeks now and have found some hacking buddies but my stupid working hours and everyone else doing shift work meant that there's not been many that want to ride at 7pm.
H has been having a week off after a rather traumatic incident involving a horse-eating wheelbarrow and H deciding to test out just how much weight my new ariats can withstand. Cue a trip to A&E and two broken toes that ended up looking like burnt sausages so it probably wasn't the wisest decision to go solo after a week off work but still I'd set aside the whole morning and not even my wavering nerves were going to stop me.
We'd done the route before. It was a short circular route involving a stream, a gate and a lovely uphill straight through one of the fields, perfect for a canter if it weren't for my fear of cantering in open spaces and the fact i've never cantered H alone. I'd briefly dared to think of us cantering the hill but never in a million years thought I'd be brave enough to do it.
So we set off, having warned everyone that if I wasn't back in an hour I was probably dead (dramatic? Moi?). I was expecting a bit of napping leaving the yard, especially as there was a huge pile of logs that H is usually quite "looky" with and the adjacent field was full of ducks, but nope, he strode on like he'd always hacked alone. In fact the only time he tried it on at all was when we encountered a live fence that was ticking suspiciously and after giving him a moment to think he walked straight past it. This alone was a huge improvement on the usual battles over nothing, but there was still the stream to face. I rode him towards it positively, leg on, stick poised in case he were to even consider backing off and to my surprise again he happily took it in his stride, which left just the gate and field to face.
We've put in a lot of practice with gates but I'd forgotten I was essentially asking my horse to calmly open a gate into a wide open field. My nerves threatened to get the better of me as I imagined him bolting with my foot stuck in the gate but I snapped myself out of it and reminded myself to focus on the task at hand. Gate opened, we calmly turned to shut it and then I asked for trot. He broke into the most fabulously steady trot so I sat back and asked for canter. I honestly can't even begin to describe how amazing it was to be cantering the nappy, spooky one alone up a hill.
I'm embarrassed to say I had a little cry when I reached the top of the hill. I've always been the sort to spend hours exploring and cantering every stretch I found but since my accident and essentially since I've owned H my nerves have been shot and I never in a million years thought we'd be cantering alone on our first hack out or even at all. I'm just so proud of H. He's gone from napping and spinning at everything to beginning to become a really responsive ride. And I think slowly but surely he's starting to have confidence in me. As for me, I'm off to bed now so I can wake up early and do it all over again
Today I decided I was going to hack out alone for the first time from the new yard. We've been there a few weeks now and have found some hacking buddies but my stupid working hours and everyone else doing shift work meant that there's not been many that want to ride at 7pm.
H has been having a week off after a rather traumatic incident involving a horse-eating wheelbarrow and H deciding to test out just how much weight my new ariats can withstand. Cue a trip to A&E and two broken toes that ended up looking like burnt sausages so it probably wasn't the wisest decision to go solo after a week off work but still I'd set aside the whole morning and not even my wavering nerves were going to stop me.
We'd done the route before. It was a short circular route involving a stream, a gate and a lovely uphill straight through one of the fields, perfect for a canter if it weren't for my fear of cantering in open spaces and the fact i've never cantered H alone. I'd briefly dared to think of us cantering the hill but never in a million years thought I'd be brave enough to do it.
So we set off, having warned everyone that if I wasn't back in an hour I was probably dead (dramatic? Moi?). I was expecting a bit of napping leaving the yard, especially as there was a huge pile of logs that H is usually quite "looky" with and the adjacent field was full of ducks, but nope, he strode on like he'd always hacked alone. In fact the only time he tried it on at all was when we encountered a live fence that was ticking suspiciously and after giving him a moment to think he walked straight past it. This alone was a huge improvement on the usual battles over nothing, but there was still the stream to face. I rode him towards it positively, leg on, stick poised in case he were to even consider backing off and to my surprise again he happily took it in his stride, which left just the gate and field to face.
We've put in a lot of practice with gates but I'd forgotten I was essentially asking my horse to calmly open a gate into a wide open field. My nerves threatened to get the better of me as I imagined him bolting with my foot stuck in the gate but I snapped myself out of it and reminded myself to focus on the task at hand. Gate opened, we calmly turned to shut it and then I asked for trot. He broke into the most fabulously steady trot so I sat back and asked for canter. I honestly can't even begin to describe how amazing it was to be cantering the nappy, spooky one alone up a hill.
I'm embarrassed to say I had a little cry when I reached the top of the hill. I've always been the sort to spend hours exploring and cantering every stretch I found but since my accident and essentially since I've owned H my nerves have been shot and I never in a million years thought we'd be cantering alone on our first hack out or even at all. I'm just so proud of H. He's gone from napping and spinning at everything to beginning to become a really responsive ride. And I think slowly but surely he's starting to have confidence in me. As for me, I'm off to bed now so I can wake up early and do it all over again
