Lady Liberty

Two thumbs up for anyone who read the title and didn't think this was going to be another political post.

Several months ago (like over the summer, that's how long ago), I took a lesson on one of Trainer G's lesson horses, Liberty. It was a jumping lesson, and boy oh boy was it exciting. Starting off, it was an accidental semi-private because the other adult amateur who was supposed to have a lesson right before me ended up pulling in at the same time as me. Whoops, no biggie though, we both know how to keep our space. I walked and trot Liberty around no biggie. She's actually very fun to flat because she's so straightforward. Notice how I said we walked and trot around. No mention of canter. Remember that.

Rare photo of Liberty standing straight on the crossties . . .

When it got to jumping, the crazy came out. Liberty is bred for performance. In her spare time, she teaches little kids how to post and also barrel races like an absolute beast. Naturally, jumping her is an adventure. She kind of took me to the first fence, which I was meh about. It happens. Then it kept happening. And it became increasingly aversive. At one point, she actually refused and then kind of took off in the opposite direction, leaving me to do a flying dismount to get her back under control. By the end of the lesson, we figured it out, and she is a keen little jumper. After everything was over, Trainer G let me know that the single joint full cheek snaffle I was riding in isn't Liberty's normal jumping bit. She typically goes in the elevator on the bottom hole. Very nice to know at the conclusion of the lesson.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago: Blackjack was being used for a lesson, so I hopped onto Liberty instead. I can't remember what happened, but for some reason I got on her with the same D-Ring Myler that Lucie went in. There was no plan to jump, so it didn't matter that much to me. As we were hacking around, Trainer G came out to the ring and took some time to give me some pointers. I had a lesson on Blackjack prior to this ride, so I'm guessing she was happy to see me implementing a lot of what we had worked on then. When we got to a walk break, I asked if Liberty can canter normally. This was in reference to my previous ride on her where we did attempt a canter but didn't make it out of a small circle, so Trainer G decided we would quit instead of pushing it, and now I understand why. Liberty is super easy to handle at the walk and trot, but she can get very amped up at the canter. We spent maybe 15-20 minutes straight trying to perfect the transition and prevent her from getting too fast. It was a lot of hand, which I really hated, but it's given me something to work on with her.

The kittens are also starting to look like real cats now!

I'm not quite sure what it is about Liberty, but she's whittled her way directly into my line of sight over the past few months. I'm seriously considering showing her and genuinely feel like I'm better paired with her when compared to Blackjack. We've had three rides since then, the first of which took me back. I was basically alone for the ride less some of the boarders cleaning their stalls. We did the same polework and direction changes as the last time I rode her, and she was a very good girl. At some point, I broke to a walk and just asked her to canter. It was miles better than the previous ride, which left me with back and shoulder soreness.

Guess what happened the next ride? Same thing. Cantered around without a care in the world.

Guys . . . I can't get over this horse. I just love mares. At this point, I feel confident enough to ditch the standing martingale at least for the time being. I do feel that she leans on it too much. She's also a lot less inclined to lean on my hands with the D-Ring, which I noticed on the ride with the bad canter.

When she gives me a good canter or relaxes into my hand, it makes me feel like she's happy to have someone on her back. Maybe I'm projecting, but this is the response that I always want from a horse. It made me so giddy when Lucie started trotting around with a soft mouth and her ears just flopping about.

We'll see where this takes us.