At thine own pace (pt. 1)

The process of leaving my last barn was a bit of a back and forth and took longer than I wanted it to. While I wasn't riding much towards the end, I was still enjoying myself and made it out at least three times per week just to wash Sax's fungus-prone body. I got pretty comfortable with riding Sax, Blackjack, Satin, and Liberty bareback. I even went on a trail ride on one of the boarder's horses and got to gallop him along one of the local canals. It was great.

All this to say that I wasn't in a huge rush. I had found a space that I was comfortable with for the time being, even if it was still a cruddy environment overall.

Towards the end of the summer, I started keeping an eye out for any lease opportunities. One day, I scrolled by a post that had been shared across multiple SoFlo groups about a Friesian gelding for lease. If I'm being honest, I thought it was a scam at first. The post didn't have a ton of information and the OP's Facebook page was rather desolate (seriously, her privacy settings are God-tier). I reached out anyways, realized it wasn't a scam, and yes, there was, in fact, a gorgeous Friesian gelding whose owner didn't have the time and wanted someone else to give him some TLC. I booked a lesson with the on-site trainer and went out to try him towards the end of July with the expectation that the lease would start in August.

And then I got bucked off. Like, bad.

He was already in some type of mood when I asked him to trot but settled down. When I asked to canter, he did it but was crow hopping every stride, so I tapped him with the whip, and that really set him off. So yeah, my first impression with his owner and the trainer was getting my ass thrown to the ground by a horse that usually packs around timid riders. I got back on, and we cantered beautifully after all that, but my pride (and my ass) stung a bit. I initially told the owner that I would lease him, mainly because I was so desperate to be in a different barn, but then I slept on it and decided not to.

Midway into August, I reached out to the trainer again to see if I could take a lesson. I kind of figured that I might be able to make things work at the old place if I took lessons elsewhere but kept up with my lease. She has a couple of solid lesson horses and let me try out her mustang, Destello. At that point, he was about four months post-capture. He's caught on great to the lesson pony life and is overall a green but very trustworthy mount. I described him the other day as a confidence builder because that's what he is to me at this point.

The first lesson was . . . touch and go. The flatwork is relatively easy for us, and I do look forward to refining it in the future. The thing I struggle with the most is, you guessed it, my lateral balance and stiffness. Ya know, the usual, and nothing that I'm not used to working through. Jumping him is . . . a lot. And it's not that he's bad, but there's something about me that's just off.

More on that in another post; this one's getting to be miles long.