But! Yesterday, I made an extreme effort to get baaaaaaack in the saddle again. It was probably the first time in two weeks that she had been ridden. And she. was. so. wonderful! I'm seriously still so impressed with her. Since getting engaged a month and a half ago, I've probably ridden her three or four times total. And yet each time I get on her or longe her, no matter how much time has passed, she's always like oh, okay. I remember this.
An example of this is what happened towards the end of our ride last night. I've been slowly introducing her to the back, and it has been a majorly foreign concept for her. And she hasn't had much work on it since I haven't been riding as much these last few weeks. But last night, I shifted my weight back in preparation to ask her to back, and she immediately started shifting her weight backwards, too. I lifted my hands and pulled slightly back, and she backed. We did it a second time to make sure it wasn't a fluke, and that time she backed even straighter.
This horse. She is so smart and so willing to please. One day, once she has more experience under her belt, I think she might make as good of a horse as Chica (well, as close to Chica as a horse can get). I'm just tickled. For one, this little cowbred horse was not what I wanted in my next horse, but she and I click so well, and I'm having so much fun with her.
For two, when I look at where she was a year ago (I'll have owned her a year on October 20th. How is that possible?), she is such a different horse from when I bought her that it's like someone replaced her in the night. She's gone from being an untrusting, difficult to catch, scared of everything, pain in my butt mistake to being a trusting, affectionate, smart, and willing mount. I know we still have a long road of training ahead of us, but just seeing what she can do in a year's time with inconsistent work is very, very encouraging. I'm excited to see where she will be next October.
Happy anniversary, my little Ponderosa!
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