The Ride I Never Thought to Have

Today was much better temperature wise, but I felt horrible when I got to the barn. I took some headache medicine and sat down to let it start working. No weed whacking today.
As I waited to see if I would do anything, my horses snoozed under their fans. Luckily the medicine did the trick and I felt more human later. Now I had to decide who to ride.
The day was quiet and I was feeling confident, so I picked Winston. In my post "Mindset" I told about the challenges we have had with Winston and how I have to be in the right frame of mind to ride him. Mom rode him yesterday helping make my decision.
I really only wanted to get him moving. He is our fattest horse, so he needs the work. What I got was better than I could have ever expected.
My rides on Winston normally consist of walking and a little trotting to the left, right is his trouble side. Today I felt no uneasiness when I got on him. We walked to warm up, working on corners. Then Winston decided that it was time to trot... going to the right. I took a breathe and went with it. Gradually I was able to ask for more trot and ask for him to round. We trotted both directions for 15-20mins. I have not trotted him that long in 3yrs. He has such a smooth, open gait that was enjoyable. I was not nervous and I actually had fun riding him today. After the last time I came off him, I did not think I would ever be able to trust him enough to have fun.
Winston loves to work and I was really comfortable, so I asked him to open and close his trot. I have worked him in hand and on the lunge a lot using vocal commands. I used the same commands to help him understand what I wanted. We did a corner and then moved on, then repeat. He responded really well. Plus he was rounding nicely. I was nearly done and asked for another "trot on." Winston moved on, did a little canter skip, went on trotting. I used my inside leg to bend him after I felt the skip. Surprisingly, he picked up CANTER. It was the smoothest transition I have ever felt. Then my heart skipped a beat. We were cantering, OH Boy. The last time I was on him and he took off in a canter I ended up on the ground. Again I took a breathe, then put my shoulders back and after a couple strides he smoothly transitioned down and halted. I was absolutely amazed. I gave him sugar and loved on him. Mom has been thinking about cantering him, but it never even crossed my mind.
I will admit that I was a bit shaky from adrenaline. I asked him to trot a bit more then hopped off.
We both ended the ride feeling great. It was probably the first time I did not sigh in relief when I had my feet on the ground. This time I was happy and filled with our achievement. Winston got a big hug and scratches.
I know that the next ride may not be the same, but I will always have this ride to treasure.

Mindset

Well the weather actually cooperated. I did about an hours worth of work at my barn and then headed to Peggy's. When I pull up to the barn I noticed that the horses were in early. Normally they are turned out till about 3pm. The question was answered by Peggy when she came and told me that Comrade may be lame. What?
Turns out that Comrade had a big head and decided to take on Addie. He backed up to her three times bucking. I could see ruffled fur all over his butt. I decided to use the bareback pad so I could feel if he was anyway off. No lameness. He actually was ready to work. We did some lateral work, mostly to avoid the dog, and some transitions. The only problem I had was that I put on my Cuddle duds and they are a little slippery when you are bareback. So I just tried to stay centered and ride through my slips. Comrade gave me some really good canter transitions and I let him be done. I am sure he is more sore today.
We found out after the ride that he nailed Addie on the inside of her back leg. Poor girl was dripping blood. Cleaned her up and put a layer of Alu Spray on.
It was still early when I got back to my barn. The ever present question arose; Who do I ride? The easy choice is to ride DaVinci. Rosemary always needs work. Dottie is coming off a lameness so she needs better footing. And Winston has not been ridden in... oh who knows. I made the hard choice to ride Winston.
Winston is a sweetheart, but a very complicated one. When we first got him, he would take off for unknown reasons. The result was me falling hard twice. He rattled my confidence badly. After a lot of groundwork mom started riding him and eventually I did too. I signed up for a dressage show and the Tuesday before the show he took off again. At the show I was a wreck. Surprisingly once we got in the show ring we were some what able to do the test. After that I said that I would not ride him until he and I were both in a better mindset.
In 2009, I found a trainer to come and ride him. She did great work with him. He was more balanced and settled into working. He still has the "take off" in him, but it takes more to trigger it. Due to finances I could not longer afford training. My mom is his main rider, but I am more confident now and will get on him. I have to really focus on keeping a positive mindset and staying relaxed.

Winston (left) and DaVinci

I crawled on and put my feet in the stirrups only to realize that they were set for my mom. Short stirrups are not the best when riding Winston. I like to feel around him. Unfortunately, by myself there was no way I was going to try and change the stirrups. "Just breathe" was my mantra.
I started by checking the brakes, then moved on to some lateral work to get his mind focused. I had to be aware and ignore the cat pouncing on mystery mice by the bushes. Then Rosemary figured out that the boys were in the barn and she was missing out. Therefore she starts doing laps and calling. Did I mention that I was still on the sensitive horse that had not been worked in ages with short stirrups? Bless him he took care of me. We even did a some trot circles where we leg yielded out to make the circle bigger. Then we halted and I took a deep breath. When he answered with a big sigh and chewed, I gave him a piece of sugar and hopped off. I may never ride him like the trainer does, but I can at least make sure he feels involved. Winston reads people well and so when he offers more when I ride him, I feel complimented that he thinks I can handle what he does.
Riding Comrade, who does spook, take off and buck at times has definitely helped when I ride Winston. That being said though, I won't even consider getting on him if I am stressed or worried about anything. Mindset is a very powerful tool.