Miss Tuesday Ride 1: Start!

Thursday, 12/30/10

Wizard is recovering from a gimpy left front leg (he also banged up his left hind in the meantime, but that is all better now). I officially pronounced him sound on Sunday, Jan 2, but I want to give him a little more time to make sure whatever was bothering him is completely gone. We’re just doing some fun liberty work and clicker training in the meantime.

Meanwhile, at another barn, my friend is recovering from knee surgery. So since I’m horseless and my friend cannot ride her mare, my friend asked me to ride Miss Tuesday.

Miss Tuesday is an unraced Thoroughbred, foaled in 1998. Her registered name is Stormin Miss- here’s her pedigree (great name!).

My friend has been working with Miss Tuesday for a few years, and they have made great progress together. For groundwork, my friend has utilized Parelli Natural Horse Training. Since I do not “speak” Parelli, I had to learn how to communicate with Tuesday. I learned how to guide her front end and hindquarters, and how to ask her to move forward and back. I did some longeing (circling) to get acquainted with her, since she had a few weeks off from riding.

We kept our ride short, since my back felt a little sore from shoveling snow and since Tuesday was out of shape from the time off. We started with walk work, and did two sets of trotting. It took me a few minutes to get in sync with Tuesday- I take a little while to get used to horses. Tuesday rides in an eggbutt French link snaffle, and she has a wonderfully soft mouth. She seeks contact and stretches into the bit. She does not chomp on the bit like Wizard does, so she is excellent practice for me to work on my hands. She’s responsive to leg aids, too. I asked her for a leg yield, but she did not seem to understand, so I don’t know if she has learned it yet. Tuesday was honest, willing, and responsive- she’s a peach :^)

Another perk of riding Tuesday was enjoying her SADDLE, which was made by County Saddlery. I LOVED IT!!!