Sunday, December 26, 2010

Luna Loped!

You might remember back in July of 2009 when Luna bucked me off and stepped on my hand... it was my fault, I'd never asked her to lope except when she was tired after a long trail ride, and this time she was fresh out of the trailer after a 3-hour drive PLUS hadn't been ridden in over a week. So she went WAHOO and I went flying...

Anyway... I didn't ride her for quite a while after that, and then when I did ride her I just walked... took me a while to even ask for a trot again. She spent the summer with Lindsey and when she came home I was determined to work with her at least weekly and rebuild my confidence in her. She really IS a good girl, just young and silly...

We've been doing great, I've been riding her pretty much every Friday with small groups and I have made a lot of progress. Oh and it's good for her too lol... however the one time I asked her for a lope on a Friday ride, she proceeded to crowhop and I ended up on the saddle horn and her neck... thought I was going to hit the ground again but I got her stopped and managed not to... scared me pretty good again though. So I told her, NO LOPING if she can't behave herself...

Well today I rode her out with Hilary and Destiny, she was a toad in the pasture and I had to chase her down to catch her, so she got some lunging work before being saddled and I let her know in no uncertain terms that I wasn't putting up with that! She settled down pretty good and once we were out on the trail for a little while, I decided I was going to ask for a lope and see what happened... I know, stupid in light of my 3-day endurance ride in just 3 days... I couldn't afford to get hurt! But I was ready for crowhopping and ready to shut her down quick... AND SHE LOPED! She loped NICE and EASY and SHE BEHAVED HERSELF!!!

Yay me :)

1 comment:

Ms Martyr said...

Yay for you and Luna. If you're at all like me, the upcoming endurance ride wouldn't even have occurred to me until later. I tend to live in the present and ignore consequences. Hope you two have many more successes.
P.S. glad you're back. I too have missed your entries.