A couple years ago I had the very exciting opportunity of being the first to ride a mare who was about six years old. She had not been trained much and had never been ridden before. She was a beautiful, energetic, sweet horse and I became very close to her and felt like she was mine and was very sad when she was sold some time later. It took me quite awhile before she would let me get close to her. She was sensitive, easily frightened and very reactive and I nearly got hurt several times when I first began to work with her. After using Clinton Anderson's training methods with her for some weeks, teaching her groundwork and showing her that she didn't need to be afraid of me, we worked into a good relationship and I felt the thrill of being a horse trainer of a mare who had never really been trained before, and had spent most of her years in a pasture. She had been well taken care of and was naturally loving to people, but the experience of being trained regularly and with the methods that I used, was a very new one for her. First I taught her to lunge, by having her on a lead rope and directing her to trot and canter around me and turn and change directions, all from my body language. At first she tore around me at high speed and nearly pulled me off my feet with her power but I managed to hang on and persist until she grew calm and learned to go smoothly around me, looking like a carousal pony and seeming to enjoy herself. Other main exercises that I taught her was how to back up, how to flex her neck around so that she was soft to turning and stopping and how yield her hindquarters. The day I rode her for the first time was a thrilling but also nerve-wracking one. I knew I had prepared both of us for this experience, I knew we were ready, but I also knew that it is a big deal to be the first one of a horse's back and that things are much more likely to go wrong with the first couple rides on a horse, then on a ride on a horse who'd been ridden for years. I followed Clinton's steps and prepared her for my mounting by putting one foot in the stirrup, keeping her head bent around, and getting only half way up and then pausing. She swung around nervously, so I got off and flapped her stirrups and backed her a little to get her focused again, then I got half way up toward mounting her. When I finally got all the way on her back and put my weight down, she tensed and became stiff. I could feel her intense nervousness in every muscle and for a few terrifying moments I thought she was going to fall over because she tried to move and seemed to get her long legs all twisted up. But I stayed as calm as I could and kept talking soothingly to her and with the help of my sister I got her to go around in circles and then to walk, trot and canter around the round pen. I felt unbelievably excited as I rode the mare around for her first ride, and though she was stiff and scared at first, she got excited too, and stretched out her long legs and held up her beautiful head proudly, seeming to know just how special and important she was. I had several more rides on her before her foot problem prevented her from continuing her training. I was very sad and disappointed to not have more time with her. She was such an intelligent, sweet horse and so fun to ride and I know she could've gone so far in her training. But I was blessed to get as much time with her as I did and I will always remember the precious times we had together. I hope with all my heart that whoever bought my pretty horsey friend, knows what a jewel they have and gives her the love and training that she so needs and deserves.
(Me, lunging Sadie in preparation for her first ride.)
(Photo below is of me, doing a groundwork exercise with Sadie, using Clinton Anderson's method.)
