Off the Leash

If you follow this blog you likely know that I first sat on JJ's back on Saturday, and sat quietly while Sue held the reins and walked JJ around. Sunday and Monday I had short lessons on the lunge, during which I had my very first experience trotting on JJ's back. He is, of course, very hollow and his head was in the air most of the time, but when his head dropped he felt AWESOME. He seems very agreeable. He does not show any negative reactions to my leg pressure or rein aids, and he puts up with my nervous, tense position very well. ;)

I should explain - I'm not always the most confident rider. If I trust a horse, I'm golden. But I don't trust JJ yet which means I hold a strong, tense position. This is pretty much the opposite of what I should do and I'm trying REALLY hard to be more balanced and relaxed, but trust me, when you're pitched atop a 1000 pound animal with a baby brain, it's HARD!

He was fantastic both times on the lunge. He did nothing bad and showed no inclination of being mean. He is green as grass, of course, but sweet as pie! Since I have been lunging him for the past month or so he's gotten very good at verbal cues and trots with a simple cluck and walks with a "ho", so controlling him that way was very easy.

On the lunge I really did very little in the way of steering JJ, rather I was just up there for both of us to get used to the upgrade in our relationship ;) Video below:

Today, I got my first chance riding him off the lunge line - i.e. all on my own for everything. It was awesome! I started out just walking, and asking JJ to stretch his neck around and touch his nose to each of my toes. He's pretty good at touching my left toe, but of course is a bit more stiff to the right. After a few flexing exercises, it was time for a trot! A simple cluck and slight squeeze of the leg brought him into a trot. I began steering him in figure eights, trying all the while to BREATHE and RELAX. I think I did a little better today, and JJ was an absolute super star. Video below - sorry about the quality but enjoy!

I know this probably all sounds pretty generic or boring to most of you, but to me, riding JJ is a HUGE step. Like climbing over an enormous wall that I had always just sort of assumed I would go around, somehow. Of course I bought JJ with the intention of re-training him (and thus riding him by default), but once he came and we started working on the flat I fell into the comfortable routine of lunging everyday. The whole riding thing faded into this distant obstacle that I just sort of figure would be there for a VERY long time. Now that I've ridden him several times, I feel like I'm on cloud nine. IT FEELS AWESOME!