Today I arrived early at the yard, and enjoyed
reading my H&H magazine until the rain came and I had to put it away. The
rain didn't last luckily, and with the staff at breakfast, I got a good nosey
around on my lonesome. The main yard has a U-shaped set of stables, and then an
American-style barn that only staff are allowed into. Most of the riding horses
are brought into the barn, so you can't see who's in for the taking. For some
reason, there were lots of riding horses rather than liveries on the outdoor
U-shaped yard this time, so while I only had my Blackberry, I did take some
photos! I said hi to Ransom and had a kiss, although had no intention of taking
him and putting my hip out again now that it's just started feeling even again.
The Physio also costs more than the hack! I met lots of the coloured ponies
(coloured 14-14.2hhs are the yard fave it seems), so said hi to Roma, Clyde,
Indie, Ghandi and such like, all of which had saddles on and their reins hung
up, meaning they were up for use this morning. I met a new face or two as well
in the form of Abbi, a chunky coloured mare about 15hh. I also saw and fussed
over Corrie: he was in, but had no saddle on and no bridle hanging up, so I
guessed he probably was on a rest day or booked for later, but it was worth a
try asking for him given how good a ride I'd had first time. I saw Frankie's
son Finlay in too, who is a chunkier, coloured version of Frankie but with
stripe rather than the blaze of his mum and brother. He looked half asleep, so
I was tempted to ask for him, but worried he'd be ploddy and I was in the mood
to have a speedy blast.
Ghandi, the trouble maker!
Clyde, the plod, having a stand-up snooze:
My beloved Corrie
Frankie’s son Finlay, asleep in the morning sunshine
in the barn:
By this point other folk had arrived, including
parents and their daughter who ride every Sunday morning, so I sat back down
outside the office. I always see them, and make pleasantries, but this is the
first time we really talked. The mum is back riding nearly a year, after a
horrible accident at the same yard a few decades ago as a teen. She remarked
how brave I was to ride any horse, be it big or small, ploddy or turbobred, and
cantering out in the open. I shared the story of the accident that wrecked my
confidence as a teenager, and how I'd been back in the saddle two years now as
an adult, and have been hacking out all shapes and sizes for nearly 6 months
now. I told her that it takes time, the confidence comes, and when it does,
it'll be stronger than ever before (if she's anything like me). We talked about
the things that make her nervous (even horse's natural fidgeting or pawing
makes her afraid she'll be bolted with again, even though she knows she's being
silly), and how to conquer it a bit. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation, and
we spoke again once out of the office about our horses. She was on James: I'll
definitely be asking about him in future. He's about 17.2hh of grey loveliness,
with a pink nose from where he has a hidden blaze. He's gorgeous!
Despite arriving first as usual, an Italian guy
having his first ever lesson jumped the queue into the office. He was given
Hugo, who I was planning on asking for as I fancied a faster ride. My other two
top choices were Frankie and Corrie, who have been my fave hacking horses so
far in completely different ways. They asked who I was 'normally on' and replied
with those two, saying they were my favourites. Without skipping a heartbeat,
they gave me Frankie, and I went back out into the now sunshine to get my
favourite little mare. I also now have photos of her: isn't she a total
fitstick?!
I got up and watched other folks horses come out.
None of the 'regulars' I'm so fond of were on my ride today. There was also a
nervous couple using a Groupon voucher. The man was given Abbi, and got on her
to find her a fidget. She was dancing around a bit, and he had his hands up
high, his heels up and his shoulders forward; it was not looking like a great mix.
As more horses filled the yard between the trek, hack and lesson being boarded,
Abbi started chucking herself around a bit more. I was not relishing the idea
of someone new to riding or rusty on such a horse, and almost asked to be
swapped onto her. People getting nervous or sore spoils the hack for other
people – have learned that the hard way! Anyway, A came and got on Ghandi, and
I was delighted. M is a nice woman and all, but her hacks are slow and a bit
boring. A makes the most of canter and trot stretches, where M will take a
shorter route but throw more walk in to make up the 2hrs. We set off, and I
managed to get Frankie third in the snake when the YO called us back. Despite
the YO shouting at the man a few times to put his heels and hands down, his
heels were still up and Abbi was being bolshy and pushing into Ghandi already.
YO said she was swapping horses and I was relieved: I was not looking forward
to the possible fallout. YO took the man off and put him on Starsky, another
horse I'm itching to try as he's got the build of Hutch, but without the ploddy
attitude. We took off again, but the others pushed us out of the way and
Frankie and I were in penultimate place behind Starsky and before Clyde. I don't like being at the back as Frankie doesn't
always enjoy the tail-end, but hoped Starsky would be fast enough to give us
room for a blast.
We hit the river, and A like me, could see the nerves
and lack of basic technique from the Groupon riders. She shouted “Last chance:
is everyone here entirely competent in canter? If not, a walk trot trek is
leaving in a couple of minutes...” I shouted an enthusiastic yes, and the other
guys gave a much quieter one. That did not instil me with confidence! Frankie
looked towards home when we moved from halt to cross the river, but she didn't
spin as she did on my sister's trek, or as Ransom did with me. I guessed she'd
be in slower mood today and I was right on that mark. The first trot came, and
she was keen enough to start, but needed lots of squeezing to keep the pace
with Starsky. I did feel immediately at home though: I do find a shorter stride
naturally suits me better, and I haven't hacked out anything under 17hh in
months! I had her pattern right away, and didn’t have the Corrie-Frankie
comparison in my muscle memory oddly. Clyde
was totally turned off: I often had to look back to make sure we hadn't lost
him rider, wife of the man on Starsky.
Up came canter one – the uphill canter. Frankie came
alive: she danced as we waited at the bottom for Clyde
to catch up so we could set off. Frankie went from walk to canter, and kept up
with Starsky's huge stride without getting up his bum and trying to pass. I
normally ride Frankie's canters in the 3-point seat, but went 2-point for this
to see if it helped her open up. It made no odds: Frankie tears up that hill,
no matter who's on their back, and no matter what seat they're in! Lol.
Canters 2 and 3 immediately followed, with only a
small break in between to switch paths. I gave the first one a go sat down, but
switched part way into the two-point position to try and decide how best
Frankie was working today. As I hadn't made up my mind to try both on one
stretch before I started, I hadn't shortened my reins enough to maintain a good
contact in both seats, so couldn't do much when she went a bit left as I was
out of the saddle. It was nothing serious – just a few instances of putting my
head forward so that the crown of my hat took the branches. She was in her
usual mood of not following, but taking her own favoured footing, so I vowed to
be much more decisive about what I was doing in future and adjust beforehand. I
took the 3rd one sitting down and it felt wonderful: I was glued
onto her back, with my leg under me, my heels down and a grin on my face. Lots of people might find a choppy stride
bouncy, but I naturally seem to sit to it well. I definitely need more practice
to get that glued into horses 17hh and above. I've been fine on everything
below that size so far thankfully.
We went back on ourselves a bit here as we did with M
a couple of weeks ago, but we did a loop rather than end a canter, turn 180, go
again. The bit where Corrie had galloped with me last time hadn't lead to a
gallop this time: the horses in front were too slow to give me that kind of
space. I wasn't bothered though: I decided after my last hack on Frankie that
I'm going to not bother trying to sit her verge of gallop on the railway line:
I would be in the point-two position, and hopefully with the room to take off!
The route was as beautiful as usual. The bridge over
the valley made that wonderful echo of hooves, and it was a novelty to not be
on a horse that could freak out and put me over the high safety rail. I think
Frankie could only manage that if she flipped me off her nose in a rear, like a
seal with a beach ball! lol. I also had to work hard around all the fences and
wing mirrors again: my feet could not clear them on Frankie, so it came back to
careful steering, leg yielding and one hitching up of my heels to my buttocks
to avoid a post! This is where we bumped into some fauna though: we were
walking down a path with field on the right, and a grass verge on the left. In
the field were 3 Friesians bulls by the fence. I was looking at them thinking
“You don't often see that many full grown Friesian bulls, and gosh are they
staring hard at us...” No sooner had I said that than the whole ride in front
of me spooked and leapt to the left. One of the bulls had charged the fence: I
looked up to find the bull stopped and no more by the barbed wire, and lead
pony Ghandi as deep into the grass verge as possible! Frankie was the only pony
not to react: what a clever girl she is :)
We got to our usual entrance to the Glen, and the
gates were closed with signs up. Seriously, how can it take over a month to
lift a tree off a path easily accessed by vehicles? The view and smells in
there are gorgeous, and A often makes the two canter stretches into one,
including the gallop on the railway line: it’s an utter treat to be out with
her because of it. I was gutted to see it still closed, meaning we had to do
some more road-work to get there. Still, we do get on the railway line at an
earlier point than many other of the routes, and A did not make us wait until
after the first bridge to kick off like M did. She did however say to me that
we had to take it steady for obvious reasons today, so no tearing it up. I was
gutted: I was revved up for a gallop on the Turbo Cob. I'd made sure my light
seat and contact were practised over Frankie's short neck in preparation, even
though I think we both enjoyed the sitting canters more! (I laughed, because in
the light seat, I could touch Frankie’s ears easily if I wanted to, where I’d
have been on the floor before I reached that far on Corrie, Hutch or Ransom)! I do completely understand though: shoe on
the other foot, and if I was nervous, rusty or new to cantering and would've
panicked about galloping, I'd appreciate the ride staying at a good canter pace
instead. You can't have it all ways unfortunately. Some day though, when I'm in
work and earning more money, I'm paying extra for a private hack in good
weather, and getting my gallop without disturbance!
Off we went on this canter. Frankie had got more and
more forward, needing less and less leg as soon as she saw the park gates and
knew we were close to the fastest part of the ride. I was glad of that: not
because I wasn't willing to use my legs or crop to push her into being more
active, but it meant I knew she was enjoying the hack out even if she was a bit
calmer and lazier than usual. Anyway, she
leapt into action, and while I rode in the two-point seat, hoping for Starsky
to create enough room ahead that I could safely speed up a bit (Clyde behind me
was in drag-his-arse mode: I was not worried that my speeding up would affect
him), but I never got it. In fact, Frankie and I ended up creating space the
wrong way. Frankie was not just bearing left this time, but running completely
on the grass under the trees and ignoring me entirely. I had my right hand only
a foot from the bit in her mouth, and no pulling back with my right hand and
putting my left leg on was shifting her over. She was in total knobber-mare
mood, set her neck against me, and cantered more slowly but with some right
flexion due to the constance pressure on the
right rein. She totally smashed my left foot against one of the stone tunnels,
and it hurt so much I shouted out (even though I really didn't want to because
I was worried A would stop the canter fearing the pair on Starsky and Clyde had
come off). No one seemed to notice though, so I then started to get vocally
annoyed with Frankie. I'm not ashamed to say I shouted “Move over you little
bitch!” when I almost grabbed the bit itself in an attempt to move her. I
wanted to swap my crop into my right hand to push her over too, but didn't feel
I could switch it and maintain my contact well enough. I also got such a big
smack from some branches on my face (there's your flora) that I had to check I
wasn't bleeding. It had felt like my cheek was in a slightly different place
than where it had started by the end of that stretch!
The canter ended, and rather than the usual pat and
good girl, I kept quiet. She had totally ignored my leg and rein aids, and had
spoiled my favourite bit of the ride a bit by slowing down and setting her
neck, rather than keeping up the pace and moving out. I knew earlier she was in
her 'under the trees' mood, but she'd yielded off my leg alone at that point,
and moved when asked with the reins too. Both together on this stretch and she shut
me out entirely.
Frankie then started to try her luck eating. My rule
out hacking is that you do not snatch the reins, and you do not stop to eat.
You can however grab anything within your reach on my contact as we go past.
Horses are varied grazers after all, and self-medicate with their diet. I don't
know what variety of plants they have access to on turn-out, so am happy to
allow mid-route snacking as long as it's polite. Well, Frankie stopped dead twice. All the
ride long I'd been squeezing with my calf muscles, but she got not one but two
digs of my heels on two separate stops. I wasn't having any nonsense and it
worked: she never tried it on again after that.
We got to our last bit of road work, and the heavens
opened, and I mean really opened. You know how the rain pours in an equatorial
country at noon, with rain splashing back a foot off the road and more? It was
like that! I'd left my raincoat off as
it was really sunny when we left the yard and I hate being sweltered. The rain stopped, and while I was pretty wet,
I was not saturated. We then got onto the woodland path by the river, and
despite thick tree cover, the rain started again and really came down through
the canopy. I was totally soaked: I mean, like a dish cloth in the kitchen sink
– literally wringing wet. The only part of me that was dry was the bit I was
sitting on, but with a synthetic saddle that didn't last either: the material
cover was soaking up the rain into even the bits I was sitting on, and I
started to feel my undercarriage get damp. Every time I moved my head, a river
poured off my hat. I kept leaning forward to pour it off Frankie's shoulder
rather than have it go down my back, but lots ended up going straight down onto
my hoodie, making it even wetter. Even my toes were wet, despite my boots being
waterproof: that’s how much was running down my legs, because it certainly didn’t
come in through the sides!
We got what had been our first trot stretch again.
While M makes us walk it, the other ride leaders let us trot again, all apart
from A that is. We canter it with her, as I had done on Hutch!. Hutch hadn't
been keen on it, especially at the S bend, and Starsky in front of me was the
same: Frankie and I cantered until we caught up with Starsky, but had to trot
as he was trotting. The man was shouting “Sorry, he doesn't want to canter”,
but wasn't giving any canter aids: on Hutch, I'd let him trot the bend and
moved him straight back up so that I and anyone behind could enjoy the canter.
I was a bit disappointed, and even wetter too. There's lot of branches here, so
I went into the two-point seat as it's easier to dodge them all from this
position using the crown of my hat. I had then, of course, exposed the only
partially dry part of me to the rain; so now I'd had a prematurely short
canter, and was saturated right through to my knicky-knacky-noo-noos! Yuck.
I couldn't believe the difference in the water level in
the river from 20mins of rain: the water had gone from Frankie's hocks to
around her stifles! She crossed like a pro though, and kept up with Starsky
with no encouragement. I'd had a good ride, and was still smiling, even though
Frankie was a bit lazier than usual, and had gone all mareish and opinionated
on me on the railway line. I normally find the trick with a mare is to make
things seem like their idea: I couldn't think of a way to achieve this while
busy cantering on that stretch. I definitely need to have a plan for next time,
and I'll definitely be swapping my crop into my outside hand!
We got to the stable block, and one of the girls in
full galoshes came straight up to me to get Frankie. I said I needed a minute
to circle my feet after having my heels down, and she agreed it's horrible
dismounting with sleeping toes. To be honest, I was more bothering about having
a minute with Franks before she was whisked into the barn. I stroked and
praised her while I circled my feet, then hopped off. I thanked the girl and
Frankie, and patting her whither one more time, I could see the water jumping
out of her coat when I did so. Maybe she's just like me and not a fan of the
rain! It definitely puts me into moody-mare mode, getting that wet... expect
when I'm on a horse though. I was smiling at this point! If it happened out shopping
though, I'd have been effing and jeffing about being so wet and cold.
While I originally planned to leave riding for a
fortnight, P had given me a free lesson as my last, so I had the money spare to
ride again this weekend. With my official passing of corrections and graduation
notice finally arriving this week, and with 18oC sun this weekend, I've booked
another hack for this Sunday. I am not asking for Frankie though: I need a bit
of something different, and I hope that when I do next choose her, that I have
her in her dancing, lively mood next time. The devil in me wants Hugo or Robbie
at this point: am in the mood for a lean, mean, galloping machine. I'd even
give Ransom another go except that I needed physio last time! 2hrs on a horse
uneven on the same side of me is a recipe for disaster. I think Ransom will
have to be a lesson horse in future. Still, you never know who or what's in
store for a hack here in the city: the choice is vast! :D
No comments:
Post a Comment