I had the most wonderful ride with Shya and Pickles today! Instead of the normal: Mark on Pickles and me on Shya,, it was me on Pickles and my friend, Lara, on Shya. Neither one of our girls has been ridden by anyone other than us since we have had them. I have only ridden Pickles maybe 3 times and Mark has ridden Shya once; so I was a bit leery about shaking things up. We arrived at the parking area, tacked the girls up and hopped on. To my amazement, neither girl seemed to even notice that they had different riders. I figured Pickles would be fine, Shya was the one I worried about. I glanced over at Lara and Shya and could not believe it. Shya was totally relaxed, ears forward and moving off without a problem. She was acting as if I was on her back, not someone new. Lara asked her to trot and Shya did so without any hesitation. Wow, amazed! When we first got Shya she was deathly afraid to ride next to any horse, especially Pickles (Pickles is in charge in the pasture and will go off on Shya at the drop of a hat). I have slowly worked with her on this and now we can ride next to other horses, but always by my demand, never on her own. To my surprise, she walked next to Pickles for the majority of the ride today, all on her own! They even trotted side by side without any problem. Pickles was wonderful. I didn't push her real hard but she did her smooth lope for me a couple of times. She had a hard head when we first got her so I was surprised to learn that she gives to pressure now. Good job Mark! I am totally amazed how far both of these girls have come. What a pleasant surprise!
I had the most wonderful ride with Shya and Pickles today! Instead of the normal: Mark on Pickles and me on Shya,, it was me on Pickles and my friend, Lara, on Shya. Neither one of our girls has been ridden by anyone other than us since we have had them. I have only ridden Pickles maybe 3 times and Mark has ridden Shya once; so I was a bit leery about shaking things up. We arrived at the parking area, tacked the girls up and hopped on. To my amazement, neither girl seemed to even notice that they had different riders. I figured Pickles would be fine, Shya was the one I worried about. I glanced over at Lara and Shya and could not believe it. Shya was totally relaxed, ears forward and moving off without a problem. She was acting as if I was on her back, not someone new. Lara asked her to trot and Shya did so without any hesitation. Wow, amazed! When we first got Shya she was deathly afraid to ride next to any horse, especially Pickles (Pickles is in charge in the pasture and will go off on Shya at the drop of a hat). I have slowly worked with her on this and now we can ride next to other horses, but always by my demand, never on her own. To my surprise, she walked next to Pickles for the majority of the ride today, all on her own! They even trotted side by side without any problem. Pickles was wonderful. I didn't push her real hard but she did her smooth lope for me a couple of times. She had a hard head when we first got her so I was surprised to learn that she gives to pressure now. Good job Mark! I am totally amazed how far both of these girls have come. What a pleasant surprise!
This is what slow good work can do :) Amazing!
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