So I did something really fun the other day. Stupid? Depends on how you look at it. You could say that I made an educated guess on the subject. Or you could say that it was idiotic and I had no idea what would happen. Let's just say this, both are true.
I got on the fillies bareback and lacking anything to stop them from bucking to high heaven... or to protect me from the impact... But man it was fun! I did make an educated guess on how they would react. I didn't expect a reaction actually. And it was slightly stupid because we've gotten on them probably about five times. Oh and we haven't worked with them in about three weeks...
We'd gotten a little bit of snow and it was slightly warmer so the paddock had a little traction. Otherwise I wouldn't have done anything with the horses. The first horse I got on was Toffy. Aleythia helped me up and as I expected she did nothing. She might have raised her head a little bit but that's about it. There's something about getting on your horse with nothing to control him, trusting him to take care of you.
We did this all the time with Flicka. The one difference. She ignored us and did what she wanted. When I got on the fillies I asked them to go, turn, and stop. Toffy did it quite well. Not perfect, but pretty good. I got on Frosty after that. Well I didn't touch the ground when I switched horses. I told Aleythia that I wanted to see if I could get on Frosty off of Toffy's back. Frosty was standing right next to me. I nudged Toffy ahead a little bit. Then Frosty moved. After a little while Frosty was standing next to Toffy and me again and so I brought my leg over Toffy's neck and then placed my other foot on Frosty's back. She stood there so I shifted myself over to her back. She stood there and took it. I think she was a little surprised when she felt my weight on her back, but all she did was raise her head slightly, and when I was settled she relaxed. Those fillies are awesome. I am amazed at what we can accomplish with them. Thankyou God for smart horses.
I tried to get Frosty to move her hindquarters over, but she ended up just walking forward and it didn't work too well. I eventually had Aleythia put a hand over her nose and then ask her to move her hidnquarters over. It worked that time.
Aleythia got on Coffie and she did very well and Aleythia said it was really easy to get her to turn. I was laughing at Strudder when Aleythia and Coffie were next to him. Coffie layed her ears back slightly and he backed up. I was like you big baby. Aleythia also rode Dash. That didn't go as well as I would have hoped. Aleythia tried getting on Dash from the fence and Dash got scared and started bucking. Dash ran off and instead of chasing after her I told Aleythia to just stand there for a little bit. Then we walked to a place a little ways away from Dash and ignored her. After a couple seconds we heard the crunch of hooves on the ice and snow covered ground. When the sound stopped we turned around and there was Dash. I don't know how I knew that would work, I think it had something to do with the fact that the more you ignore a horse the more they want to be with you.
I gave Aleythia a leg up onto Dash so that she was lying across Dash's back on her stomach. She bucked again. The next time I told Aleythia to just jump beside her. This got her to walk quickly trying to get away but eventually she stopped. Then I came over and told Aleythia was that for the first little bit I was gunna act like I was going to give her a leg up but then we would stop, to give Dash a little bit of confidence. This time when Aleythia eventually was laying across her back Dash didn't buck. She stood still. Then we did it again. Aleythia wanted to quit after that but I said that I wanted her to ride Dash. I gave her a leg up and very slowly with lots of pauses and rubbing she was sitting on Dash. She rode around a little bit and Dash was relaxed and happy. She wasn't as responsive as the other horses, but she did well.
So there's my story of something I should or shouldn't have done. One thing I did notice was that afterwards the fillies seemed to want to be with us more. Coffie followed Aleythia after she got off.
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