Now that I can successfully mount on my own, I can start riding on my own. I was nervous to try, so I picked my moment carefully. I went to the barn on a Sunday in my riding clothes, but while I was grooming Beetle in the cross-ties, a storm blew in. Literally! The wind was loud and noisy, and he got really nervous. He calmed down after a few minutes, but I decided against riding that day. I wanted a good experience; better to wait.
A few days later I took a vacation day from work and by luck it was a beautiful spring morning. (Honestly, I did take a vacation day - I didn’t call out “sick”!) I decided to make attempt number two at a solo ride. Lessons started at the barn at 10 a.m. that day, so my goal was to be mounting up at 9:30 a.m. At that time, people would be in the barn getting ready for the day, but most likely no one else would be in the ring.
I was still nervous, but decided that my entire goal would be to make one attempt at mounting up. After that, no matter what happened, I would declare the day a success. Having that in mind took the pressure off. Horseback riding is like life - success is often a very iterative process. Better to set small goals and stay encouraged than to have some huge marker of success and declare anything beneath it a failure.
Beetle was happy to see me! I tacked him up, and led him into the ring right at 9:30. I brought him to the mounting blocks, took a deep breath, and mounted successfully!! Even just doing that was thrilling. I walked him around the ring and felt so free, riding on my own, on my own horse.
Beetle for his part was a good boy, but after 15 minutes he got bored. He doesn’t like just walking around the arena, which was exactly what I was asking him to do. I started mixing things up by having him walk some patterns and walk over some ground poles. At 10 a.m. when the first lesson for the day was starting, I dismounted, gave Beetle several treats, and turned him out.
Our first solo ride was a success!!
Love the selfie of you on Beetle.
Yay! Congratulations on your success!!