Wednesday, May 20, 2009

A Lovely Soft Ride

I got up at the crack of dawn this morning, 5am (That is early for me!!!!!) Washed my face, pulled on my jeans, shirt and a light jumper. Dragged my hair back into a low pony tail and sat in the dark on the back steps and pulled on my old, holey trust worthy boots, thinking to myself - do you really want to ride at this ungodly hour of the morning? I dragged myself to my car which thankfully I had packed the night before with horse feed and rugs that I needed and started my trek out to see Sam. Do you know it is amazing the amount of traffic on the road at 5.30am. IT IS STILL DARK!

I reached the paddock and jumped out of my car - the cool fresh morning air hit me and it was wonderful! I pushed the wheel barrow over to Sams paddock so I could clean it before our ride. Sam was standing at the gate half asleep but still ready with kisses - warm breaths from his nostrils on my neck. I gave him a scratch and rub on ears which were cold so we stood there a little while longer while I warmed them up! I think appreciated it : ) He continued to doze while I cleaned the paddock. He had a big stretch like a dog and was then ready to wander on down to the stables to be tacked up.

It was still dark but you could see the warm glow of the sun starting to break through on the horizon. After Sam had his obligatory cookies before a ride we mounted up and started our warm up. The air was fresh, the glow was starting the lighten the sky and Sam had a spring in his step.

We tried for some long and low at the walk - Sam was like sure I can do that. We went on to trot and he was happy to reach down and round his back for a few strides at a time. He was stepping out and really trying. We came back to a walk and practiced leg yielding. On the right rein Sam moved off my leg like a pro - the left rein we still need to practice more but he tried and that is the main thing. We finished up a lovely slow three beat canter with a low head carriage.

I jumped off and walked him in hand until he cooled down and then took him back to the stables to untack and brush down. I just wish I was a better writer so I could share with you all what a beautiful morning it was. Beautiful weather, a wonderful soft ride - what more could you ask for?! Next time I promise to take my camera!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It sounds like a lovely ride! Sam seems like such a willing and pleasant horse - you are very fortunate. I love when they do the "dog stretches" - we have two thoroughbreds at our barn who do them often in the morning at feeding time.

I'm an early morning person myself, and love how the world looks and feels, even before the sun comes up.

Anonymous said...

Nina - thanks for visiting, and for your comments! Noble just had his 29th birthday - you can't tell by looking at him - he also acts like a much younger horse. If you look back a bit in May, I did a post on his birthday 5/8.

Anonymous said...

Oops! Typo - Noble's birthday was 5/11.

Nina said...

Noble is beautiful! He looks awesome for his age!