Trail Ride

My mom and I went for a trial ride yesterday after playing with the horses. She played with Ute and Storm, while I laid across Brizzee and rode her bareback a little bit. Then we saddled up the horses, and went for a ride down the dirt road. It was really fun! Brizzee was trotting a lot, and she felt really loose, really relaxed. I've never felt her so relaxed and loose before, so that was fun. She followed along right behind Ute, and if she walked beside him she had to trot to keep up with his long stride. lol.



That was a lot of fun. That was my...second trail ride down that road, but the first time we didn't go very far. I think I finally found my balance point! I was experimenting with it, and I got right into the right position where I felt more secure then ever, and my hips, legs, and everything just started moving with her. So, I finally found my balance point. I thought I had been on it all along because the palm of my hand was resting on her rump, but yesterday I found a "new", "right" balance point...I guess. It was really nice.


Coming back Brizzee was really loose, but she kept wanting to trot. It's funny, Ute's head was down, and on the way back it was high, and he too was walking really fast. It was fun. Brizzee would slow down when I pulled back on the reins a little bit, but then she would trot again. But it got better, so I was excited about that! :-)


We rode for about an hour or so. When we went back into the paddock, mom suggested that I try to get Brizzee to canter. I was nervous, but all the other times I tried to get her to canter, she wouldn't do it. So I thought; "Oh, all right, I'll go ahead and squeeze and "cluck", but she won't go", so I wasn't worried about it... *grin*. She was trotting, I barely squeezed, and she actually CANTERED! My first canter on my own horse! We cantered three times. I was flopping all over in the saddle (lol) but it was still fun and awesome. A canter on two horses, and three canters on Brizzee. She was so responsive, and felt so relaxed. I was happy, but I still like her trot!


Mom promised me that once I rode the canter, I wouldn't like the trot. Well, Brizzee did canter THREE times yesterday, and guess what? I still L*O*V*E her trot. I guess that's probably weird, but oh well.


I wish I had Brizzee from the time she was a weanling, but oh well. After getting firm with her on the ground a few times, we are starting to have fun and she's trusting me a LITTLE more, but it took a while. And when I ride her I need to be a little "heavy" and "firm" before I can get lighter and lighter :-( But I'll only get as firm as I have to, before I'll get lighter... It would also help if I coud remember everything. lol. It's getting a little better though. The whole time I played with her on the ground before riding her yesterday, I kept thinking. "Energy in my body, bend to stop, energy in my body, bend to stop, do the trombone, do the butterfly, pedal, balance point, energy in my body, bent to stop, trombone, butterfly, pedal, balance point, etc."


It was fun, a lot of fun! My mom is going to be gone most of the day today, so I'm going to go out in a little while (might have to wear shorts, it's supposed to be 80 today...YIKES!) and play with the Circling Game, Transitions Online, Change of Direction, Seven Games with an Obstacle, and then maybe play some Liberty! No riding today though, mom has this rule that when she's gone, I can't ride, but it's okay. I'm excited to go out and play with her. My confidence has just..."blossomed!" I am very, very confident with anything I do with Brizzee now.


I'm so thankful to the Parelli's, and to Larry for letting my buy his horse, who was a knutt head when I got her, and now she's my best friend! I love you Briz! Here's some pics from yesterday:

She was soo good, she just stood there while this crazy person crawled all over on her! lol.

Sleepy head.

I almost fell asleep, lol.

My mom playing with Storm.


Mom, playing the Porcupine Game with Ute.

Savvy On,

~Randa~ & ~Brizzee~