Post by Cara on Dec 26, 2011 1:33:13 GMT
Cara lead her skewbald gelding toward the indoor arena. The young Vanner was wearing a turquoise polar-fleece rug to keep away the chill between his stall and the arena, and a matching rope halter and the rope that the girl was leading him with.
Today she planned to see what the two year old would say to having some weight on his back - meaning her - as she knew that at her almost 70 pounds she wouldn't have any damaging affect on his growing joints, and she wanted to start backing him before she properly introduced the saddle, just so he'd have an idea on how things worked before he had to also think about the weight and feel of a saddle as well as a rider.
"Come on baby." She whispered - the only way she spoke now-days - as she lead him into the arena, she then asked him to halt by the wall. Rubbing his nose, she walked to his shoulder and removed the rug, neatly folded it and left it over the edge of the wall. She then led the gelding past the object in both directions a couple of times so that there wasn't too much of a chance of him walking past it later and spooking at the unknown monster.
Leading the gelding into the centre of the arena, she then worked on running her hands over his body, pressing her hands into the middle of his back and just behind his withers, to help him adjust to the idea of her wanting to vault onto him.
When she was sure that he was ready, she tied the loose end of the rope to the halter to create reins, grasped a handful of mane, placed her right hand on his back and in one swift movement vaulted into the air and landed gently onto his back. "Easy, baby." She whispered as he shot forward. With a trained horse, she would close her legs around their sides and sit deep. However, with Noah, she knew that closing her legs on his sides would just spook him more, so she leaned forward, swung her leg back over his side and slid to the ground as he rounded the corner. Rather than landing on her feet as she had hoped though, the speed had been a little more then she expected and she landed heavily on her rear instead.
Today she planned to see what the two year old would say to having some weight on his back - meaning her - as she knew that at her almost 70 pounds she wouldn't have any damaging affect on his growing joints, and she wanted to start backing him before she properly introduced the saddle, just so he'd have an idea on how things worked before he had to also think about the weight and feel of a saddle as well as a rider.
"Come on baby." She whispered - the only way she spoke now-days - as she lead him into the arena, she then asked him to halt by the wall. Rubbing his nose, she walked to his shoulder and removed the rug, neatly folded it and left it over the edge of the wall. She then led the gelding past the object in both directions a couple of times so that there wasn't too much of a chance of him walking past it later and spooking at the unknown monster.
Leading the gelding into the centre of the arena, she then worked on running her hands over his body, pressing her hands into the middle of his back and just behind his withers, to help him adjust to the idea of her wanting to vault onto him.
When she was sure that he was ready, she tied the loose end of the rope to the halter to create reins, grasped a handful of mane, placed her right hand on his back and in one swift movement vaulted into the air and landed gently onto his back. "Easy, baby." She whispered as he shot forward. With a trained horse, she would close her legs around their sides and sit deep. However, with Noah, she knew that closing her legs on his sides would just spook him more, so she leaned forward, swung her leg back over his side and slid to the ground as he rounded the corner. Rather than landing on her feet as she had hoped though, the speed had been a little more then she expected and she landed heavily on her rear instead.