A Little Help

Today was Bacardi's inaugural ride on the flag.  With butterflies in my stomach I hauled her over to Jason's where I watched him finish giving his wife a lesson.  (This is a special treat for her as she's normally working and not riding.)  I led Bacardi into the arena, knowing it has been at least a week since I've last rode I wasn't 100% sure what I to expect.  Now, the lady who traded me Bacardi has assured me that she has no buck, spook, etc.  But I've learned the hard way - via trip to the hospital - to be wary of what sellers say.  I've also learned she does indeed have some spook - via the plastic chair.  Which of course puts into question everything else.

However, Bacardi, indeed did not buck me off.  She was her normal hot self.  She did eye ball the doors and needed to be refocused a few times and had a pretty good spook when Jason adjusted the Velcro on the flag control, but nothing that wasn't manageable.  Jason was awesome.  He gave some really helpful tricks and tools to use when doing things like warm up and "dry" (no cows) work.  I could see improvement almost immediately after implementing them which is promising.  Next, we moved onto the flag.  This was nerve wracking for me because it's not something I've done much of and I had no idea how the horse would react.  You could see she is used to a different type of rider than myself, and once she adjusts, she'll be a different horse.  We worked on quieting her mind and teaching her patience. While all the work we did was slow, it was effective for myself to learn about cutting particulars and how to best ride this horse.

I have another lesson booked for next week and I can't wait.  The current plan is to take as many lesson's as Jason's and my schedule allow throughout the summer.  Next week, I'll get his wife to take some pics while we ride.