Riding bareback

It's funny how different days make me feel different. Last time I blogged, I wrote about how bad I was in the Little Fence Arena when I bucked and reared and misbehaved with my mom on my back. Today she rode me bareback and I was a Very Good Girl.

A lot of it has to do with the weather. It's gotten hot again all of a sudden and I'm usually lazier when it's hot. The day I was so bad it was cool and windy and that got me frisky. But sometimes I don't even know why I feel the way I do. There are hot days when I'm frisky and cool days when I'm lazy. It just depends.

I felt good today but wasn't in the mood to be bad. Mom was hot. She came out with Sparky's mom and both of us had a hay snack and then our moms began grooming us. I knew when Mom brought out my bridle that she was going to ride bareback because she never puts my bridle on first. She didn't even put her riding duds on. She rode in a pair of shorts and her barn cleaning shoes which are just soft things. When she put my bridle on, she left my halter hanging around my neck with the lead rope attached. She looped the lead around my neck too and tied it so it didn't drag. That was strange and I didn't understand why she did it but I didn't mind.

Sparky and I both felt nice because the Shoe Man was out the other day to play with our feet. So I have new shoes on and Spark got a nice trim and our feet feel good. Our moms got on us and we headed down the road. I'm getting more used to having my mom on me without a saddle. At first, I stopped a lot because I was unsure about it all but now I just go along like normal. It feels kind of funny but now I know that it's not a bad thing and that Mom isn't going to fall off. Sometimes she feels a little off balance but she just holds onto my mane and that keeps her steady.

We just walked along. It was nice. Riding bareback is kind of like not really riding at all. Our moms don't make us do anything special - we just go for poop loops or lazy walks. They talk to each other and let Spark and I sniff poop sometimes or stop and look at things. It's like we're all going for a walk together instead of working.

We rode past the Little Rolling Arena and then went behind all the funny buildings where they have the shiny barrels. Mom says they make wine there. I don't know what wine is but I guess they need barrels for it. When I first moved her, I was a little unsure about all the stuff back there but now I'm used to it and so is Spark. The regular Rolling Arena is right above that part and you can see and hear everything when they're making wine so you kind of get used to it. We're not newcomers anymore after all. We're Experienced.

Our moms rode us to the building where the trail rides start from and that's where we learned what our halters were for. Our moms got off and put them on over our bridles, then used the lead ropes to tie us to the hitching rail in front of the building. That was smart because it's no good to tie a horse by the reins. It pulls on your mouth and can hurt it plus they can break easily if you get scared and pull.

Spark and I are both good about being tied in strange places. That's kind of funny too when I think about it because I tend to make a fuss when I'm tied in front of my stall. I fidget and move around and paw the ground. But when I'm tied outside the Office (that's what it's called), I just cock a hind leg and stand there. I guess I'm kind of silly but that's just the way I am.

Mom had told me that she was going to get a fudgesicle and that I could have some but when she came out she had Skittles instead. I guess they were out of fudgesicles. That's okay. I like Skittles too but they're hard to eat with a bit in your mouth. I was eating some when a man and a small girl came over to see me. They told Mom how pretty I am and asked if they could pet me. Mom said yes and I tried to be friendly and polite but I was kind of focused on my Skittles. The girl was nice about it and laughed though - she seemed to think I'm cute.

Then our moms took our halters off and put them back around our necks and brought us over to the mounting block near the office door. We'd never been to that mounting block but we both remembered to behave and stand still while our moms got on. It's a lot harder for them to get on bareback because they don't have the stirrups to help them so we need to be extra good about standing still and keeping close to the mounting block. I think both our moms were happy with us for that.

When we started riding back toward our barn, I felt my mom suddenly find her balance. It was kind of funny. She's ridden me bareback quite a few times now but has never felt fully comfortable on me. Finally today she did, just kind of all of a sudden. It was nice for me because I didn't feel like she was going to fall off anymore and that made it easier for me to just step out and go along. She was happy about it too - she immediately told Sparky's mom that she'd found her seat. I guess it had been a long time since she rode bareback or something. Anyway, it was good.

So we had a nice lazy ride back to the barn and that was all we did. It was a short ride but a nice one and it was hot enough that we didn't really feel like doing any more than that. I had a new bed of shavings so I was happy to get back to that and Mom gave me lots of carrot and some more Skittles, which were easier to eat because she gave them to me after she took off my bridle. Then she fed me my bucket dinner and petted my ears and kissed my nose and said good night.

I liked today.