We rode again today and Mom made me work pretty hard. That's okay. I'm 5 now and I'm learning how to be a riding horse so it's important that I work hard. It's not easy, and sometimes I get frustrated but I'm trying to be good.
It was a lot nicer today. Not too hot at all. Mom saddled me up and we set right out on the road. We couldn't have worked in the Flat Arena even if we'd wanted to because it was full of Camp Kids. They were working on all kinds of stuff. I could hear the leader person telling the riders what to do and then the horses had to go along with it all and do it. They were doing a lot of trotting and I was thinking how glad I was that I wasn't a farm horse because I don't like to trot all that much. I didn't know what Mom was going to have me do!
I was all set to be lazy and poke along but Mom was pushy right from the start. She kept bumping my sides with her legs and forcing me to step right along. I did because it's better than getting poked at all the time. And I didn't mind. I felt good and it was nice not to be hot. Then she took me into the Rolling Arena and got me going at a walk around it. Once I was going around pretty nicely, she asked me to trot.
I did but like I've said, I really don't like to trot much. I don't know why. Back when my saddle didn't fit right, it hurt to trot and I kind of got in the habit of being bad about it. Horses do that, you know. We get into the habit of things and then it's hard to stop. My back doesn't hurt anymore but I still just automatically start jigging sideways when Mom asks me to trot. I know she doesn't like it but I just don't think when it happens. I just do it. So I started doing that in the Rolling Arena. Mom worked with me and put me back on the rail and asked me again and I finally did trot but after that she took me up to the Gremlin Arena.
I knew why. There were a couple of other horses in the Rolling Arena and I wasn't paying attention as well as I might have. Once we got in the Gremlin Arena, she asked me for a trot and I jigged and she immediately smacked me hard on my butt with her stick! It made me jump and it also made me mad! But it made me trot too. She rode me around a few times then pulled me to a walk. She didn't let me drop my head down or anything though - she made me keep moving forward and kept the reins touching my mouth. We did a circuit like that and then she asked me to trot again. I kind of jigged and got another good smack and after that, I remembered to trot properly.
It was hard work! She made me walk and trot and walk and trot, both ways and then in all kinds of crazy patterns. One minute we'd be going one direction and the next we'd be going another. She made me zig-zag up and down the arena, and do circles all over it, and we did those things she calls figure 8's. I don't know why she calls them that but maybe it's because we do 8 of them. I lost count myself.
It's not easy to do all that stuff and I have to really pay attention so I don't trip or do the wrong thing. It's fun though. I like doing things that are kind of hard like that. It's like a game. I was sweating pretty hard by the time we finished up but I felt good too. I felt like I'd done a good job and sure enough, when Mom stopped me in the middle of the arena, she petted me a lot and told me I was a Good Girl. So that was nice.
She got off right in the arena and loosened my girth. Then she led me all the way back to my barn instead of riding me. I was glad of it. I was pretty hot and tired and that walk helped me to calm down and cool off. She washed me down real good when we got back too and gave me a cookie. That made me pretty happy. Another little hay snack and my bucket dinner made me even more happy.
Mom says we might be able to ride with Sparky tomorrow. I sure hope so. I want to show him how good I can trot.
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