First ride with Ani

Well that was nice! I just got back from a 3 hour outing (with 2 hours riding time) and it's only 11AM. It was harder than I thought to be on time, especially with my new "normal walk" thing (trying not to rush), that added an extra 10 minutes to our walk to the meeting point, pictured below.




I was 5 minutes late, but she wasn't there yet. When she appeared, Mag stared, "Horse! NEW horse!" I dream of someday being brave enough to ride this street. It's a gauntlet of everything possible that could upset a horse - it's a one-lane road (cars must take turns) with houses tightly built on both sides, and there are constantly people popping out of them or making noise in their gardens. Simply leading a horse through there is exciting!





The first thing Ani did was gush with compliments about how beautiful Mag is. He had green mash all over his face, but she kept going on and on about his face, his tail, his eyes, and how she knows all the Arabians in the entire city, how she dreams of having one someday.

She even remembers Baasha! That's incredible, he died in 2012, but she said, "I keep track of where all the Arabians live around here." I hope she gets one someday.

Her lease mare, Mina, glistens in the sun, and has so much less hair than Mag. I commented that her horse looks like a gaited horse, but she said the papers say she's a German Riding Pony. Hm! 

Ani's a quiet type and doesn't feel the need to fill the entire ride with conversation, which was nice. But since she boards her mare with S1 and S2, it was fun to tell her about my adventures with them. Funnily she said she doesn't get along with the barn owner there (E is a renter actually, the owner is who knows where). E is a very difficult person to get along with and Ani laughed when I told her, "S1 tells me sometimes, 'E is gone, so you can come to my barn for a visit.'!"



I felt bad because Ani's breeches were ripped up, just thrashed, and her helmet didn't seem to fit, and her riding crop was bald, the whole thing was just the nylon core. I am not the only fashion disaster around here, but since she has no job, no car, and rides a bike to get to this horse, I imagine she spends all her extra money on the cost of the lease itself. Her tack was lovely though.






Mina is very slow, and not inclined to waste any energy on anything. In a way that's good because Mag needs to learn to go slow down hills (not rushing, stumbling along letting gravity pull him down). However Mag was getting frustrated at being stuck behind her, and I was having a hard time keeping him from ploughing right through her, so I kept letting Mag pass her and we'd ride side by side and then inevitably we'd be in the lead, and then, have to stop and wait. It's new for Mag and it's been a while for me too, to be with such a slow walker. I hate having to hold my horse's walk back, trying not to nag. But stopping and waiting is also good practice for him.

The mare is 25, so we can wait: )



She finally noticed me snapping photos.






She would tip her ears back at him if he got too close. But there was something more. I had the feeling Mag was trying to speed her up. He kept edging closer to her butt when we were following, and reaching out, and I swear, he would have nipped her if I'd let him. I had to be very careful to keep him from doing that. It's what he does to the donkey when she does not go fast enough to the pasture.

Now I have to ask myself if he'd succeeded in biting the mare, if she would have taught him an important, permanent lesson about that! (Of course I'm not willing to risk Ani's safety for the purpose of that type of experiment, especially not really knowing her.)

So Mag was in the lead most of the day, which got even better when Ani suggested a side trail I'd never been on in my life, and it turned out to be lovely, and add about 10 minutes to the loop. Mag was in the lead on a strange new trail and he did not hesitate once.

He did bite my thumb when I offered him a treat from the saddle - WTH! It's cuz he's too unbalanced to have a rider on his back and reach around without falling down, so he snatches quickly. I'm getting pretty sick of this wobbly horse thing. I rode him up and embankment off trail, and am doing whatever I can with him, stopping him on little cliffs halfway down. You'd think he lives in a perfectly flat pasture, not in ours, which has no level spot.



I changed my mind, "Wait, this photo needs my horse's tail in it!"





Ani suggested we ride every Wednesday at 8:30 and it took me a while to understand she was trying to set a permanent date; she used a word I didn't know. I would love to! I told her 9 AM would be better though, cuz my horse takes forever to eat his breakfast bucket.

She told me she also likes to ride fast but doesn't mind going slow once a week. (That mare can go fast? Oh my, she was huffing up those hills, poor thing.)

The best thing about Ani, well, besides the fact that she rides with consideration and respected my walking only request, she loves to take photos while riding. It was funny though when she had no idea to photograph me WHILE riding at a walk. She couldn't hold whip, reins and camera and dropped a rein and I said, "EVERYBODY HO!"

There are so many things I want to do with horses out here, little things before big. I want to show Ani what it is to have a real picnic with horses in the woods, like I did with S2 and Chili. As well trained as Chili is, he'd never been tied in the woods before, so that was funny (he untied himself and went off grazing). I'm pretty sure Ani's never done it either, and I can pack a nice picnic.


I was looking at this photo cuz I'm wearing my newish Kerrits breeches and realized I'm looking at a POCKET in my pants. Doh! I had forgotten the most important feature! I had put a groin pouch on for my cell phone. OK next time, pocket! I realized today this deluxe Stowaway pack is overkill for a short ride. This is my 50 mile pack, it holds 4 bottles (and still has original flavor Chapstick in the Chapstick holder! From 2003?). Sadly my smaller Snugpax is nearly toast - all the zippers are broken. They are so expensive, and international shipping, ah, what to do. The third thing I notice about this photo is how happy I am with my sports bra. Minimizing with uni-boob yes, bounce NO. The last thing is how happy I am she cut my ugly purple moon boots out of the image. Thank you!





She wanted to get a photo of me with her iphone, but her mare did not want to stand still. Which of course made Mag not want to stand still. He started fussing and drifting sideways to insist that we continue but I didn't get upset because if the 25 year old cannot stand still for a photo, I'm not gonna worry about the 6 year old. We'll work on it.

I think she got a photo of me holding a bottle of ice water out to her, that should be funny. She was also surprised that I have water on board. I just texted her to send me her email addy so I can share the pics I got. I told her I like unposed, natural photos, of riding, not just standing there. That was difficult for her but she'll get it.




We passed an amazing purple flower field, no idea, I said, "What, are we in FRANCE?" I knew the photos would not show how purple it was, *sigh*



I have to wonder if having Renegades on all 4 hooves would have helped her stay on trail. She avoided trail all day today, with only front boots. To be fair, Mag does this too, but not quite as much. Yesterday I found a pine cone in his Easyboot when I took it off so apparently I need to learn how to get them tight. PINE CONE!




Mag kept trying to walk off trail into the woods (!??!) and take the wrong turns, even though he has done that loop 3 times now. Thankfully he let me change his mind about where to go without a fight.

We said goodbye and Mag did not like her leaving down that scary street without him. "This is what always happens, Mag, you know this now."

All the way home I worked on Mag not snacking, and even purposefully tempting him by stopping next to mouth-high grass, and rewarding him for doing anything other than seek the grass.

When we walked by Silver and Dahkin's pasture, they came out of their stalls to stare at him (the fancy arena place) and he, for the first time, shouted a loud HI IT'S ME! to them. : )

I realize that almost every time we've gone out, it's been with an unfamiliar horse. It's fun to experience the dynamic between each new horse and Mag - whether they bicker (S1's Arabian) or get cuddly (Chili and Momo). This is very valuable training, this litany of strange horses we meet out there halfway, and then part with (the parting still upsets him though!).

One more thing - it was great to be back in my saddle again. Ani laughed at me when I thumped it all over before mounting, when I said, "Checking for bombs." What a secure feeling compared to yesterday, or any other saddle I've ever sat in. Why do I keep my Wintec Endurance Pro in my attic? Oh yah, cuz of the memories. I just can't imagine putting it on Mag and feeling at home like I do in the SS.

I have high hopes that Ani will be a reliable, safe riding partner, and perhaps even regularly!