Big Horse, Tiny Human

Me, the midget, has yet again decided that the big horses are the better option for myself. Despite having the option to choose between a much smaller, more physically suitable mount, I decided that Beorn, 17hands of pacing, sweaty beast, was exactly what I wanted to ride. He was the one from the flatwork ride that wasn't the easiest to canter. What fun.

So I guess the big question here is "Why?" Not gonna lie, I did sense some hesitation from the other teammates; Brittany was adamant about switching horses with me if I didn't feel comfortable, and rightfully so. I picked Beorn because he's a big horse with a big stride, but he's not straightforward. He's somewhere between Romeo and Abbey. I was fairly direct with Steph and told her that I might get nervous, and there was a 50/50 chance that I'd be able to canter him. I typically wing it in these situations, but I don't need another setback, and two less than stellar rides last week made me grossly determined to do better.

Beorn This Way

I did do better . . . well, after I actually got on the large animal because my legs were too short to reach my stirrups. When I did get on, and we started our warmup, it was a lot of giraffe at first. While my first reaction was to collapse forward, I took a deep breath, drew my shoulders back a bit, and tried to maintain a rhythm with him. Beorn is the biggest try hard out there. No, we didn't go in a nice frame the whole time around, but he's still so responsive and honest. I was shocked at how nice he felt, despite our obvious size difference. We did a group critique for the canter (and yes I did canter him without an drama). The biggest concern was me letting go and letting him move like a big horse. So, we did that in the second part of the lesson.

And he got even better. On the bit and tracking up, I seriously hope he looked as good as he felt. I was still getting used to the bigger stride, so it was difficult to get him to bend well, but that'll improve with time.