Branching Out

As with any Wednesday since Rosemary started driving training, I headed into work early. I knew Mom and my sister were heading to the barn earlier than usual since an appraiser was coming to assess the house. I figured if the weather held they would get to ride.
Now for a little background info on my sister. When my Dad was in the Marines, my mom worked at the base stables as the last two duty stations we lived. My sister used to ride a bit on some of the horses Mom would take care of. After we moved to VA, she did not ride until 4 yrs ago when we purchased Dottie. My 4'11" sister rides 16h Dottie really well. Dottie reads her skill level and only gives what she feels my sister can handle. We tried to put her on DaVinci so she could feel a quality walk, but DaVinci is not for a beginner. So, Mom continues to work with her on Dottie.

Well these are the pictures that Mom put on Facebook this afternoon:

Gorgeous Girls framed by DaVinci ears

And they even trotted

Mom put the western saddle on Rosemary and let my sister ride. One of the first things my sister said was "How come Rosemary's reins are so long?" Mom laughed so hard. 14h Rosemary vs. 16h Dottie, its all in the neck.
Rosemary has an exceptional walk and my sister was able to experience it finally. She trotted her,  once she convinced Rosemary she really meant to trot, and was surprised how smooth her stride is. At 5yrs old, Rosemary took care of my sister almost as well as Dottie. Welsh Cobs have such good minds and are so smart.
After riding Rosemary, my sister then rode Dottie. Mom used what my sister felt on Rosemary to make her feel more on Dottie.
Overall Mom's experiment to branch out worked great.
I did laugh when my sister talked about Rosemary's steering or lack of. A bit of the blind leading the blind and reminiscent of how I felt last week driving her.