We had a super windy day out here (and Brian and I were both pretty tired anyway), so we opted for a quick indoor bareback ride after work. We fetched our boys and brought them inside. Brian managed to mount from the ground. I had to employ the stepping stool (it’s possible I could haul myself up onto Steen’s 15.2 back, but I am still not sure how he’d react if I just flung myself at his side.)
Once up, we kept things pretty simple. I did a lot of walking interspersed with some trotting towards the end. Steen was good, though Bear was having a “magnet” effect on him. I was constantly correcting little veers towards whatever part of the arena Brian and Bear were hanging out it. His trot was quite relaxed and smooth, though erratic in speed. Still, the whole ride was quite pleasant. There is something enjoyably simplistic about riding indoors without a saddle.
Towards the end of the ride activity at the barn really picked up, but both Bear and Steen remained totally calm in spite of intense winds and lots of crazy horse/people noises and movements. It is awfully nice to have two horses that are just pretty dependable.
Outside I took a couple side shots of Bear so we could compare him with himself. I unloaded him from the trailer four weeks ago today. Brian has the better shots showing how much he’s changed in that time on his blog.
Ah yes, the leaping onto the bareback horse. Somewhere in the two years I was horse-less I manged to lose that ability. I can still leap onto Trekker's back, since he's so short. But Tranikla is just enough taller that I can't do it with any amount of grace…and I feel bad putting Tranikla though my scramblings (plus, I can't image it's good for his back). Maybe I'll get it back someday, but until then, I'm with you in needing a leg up.