This week had been an awful week. I’d made a mistake,
and paid what felt like a hefty price for it. I need a few days to mope and
kick my arse before I could pick myself up and move forward with a smile.
Despite the fact I normally ride in a great mood to begin with, I’d still been
in a funk come Saturday morning. On Friday night I was determined that I’d have
a fast horse, and wanted to tear off at break-neck speed (in the most literal
of terms) and just blast away as hard and fast as I could. There was an air of recklessness
to my emotion, and I didn’t like that one bit – it’s not like me at all.
Along came Saturday morning, and shortly before I was
due to leave the house, my stomach started to churn and I felt rotten. I was determined
not to let it stop me, so took a couple of tablets and set off on my merry way.
My mood changed a bit however – I snarled internally to myself that I’d clearly
be incapable of anything challenging, so should probably just take an easy
horse and consign myself to a slow ride. Hutch, Corrie or Frankie – I’d have
been happy with any of them at that point.
I’d got to the yard and thanks to the tablets and
actually cuddling a few of the horses, I started to feel a bit better. I still
hadn’t quite made up my mind about who to request, but the tired and grumpy
part of me was disappointed when the trek was called into the office first, and
a Groupon rider was given Frankie. It felt like someone had stolen my comfiest,
most reliable pair of shoes. It was also my 6 month anniversary at the yard,
having had my first ever ride there, a 2hr hack on the Turbo Cob, on Friday 13th
April to celebrate passing my Viva. So, I went in and the YO often does, she
did not ask me what horse I wanted – rather, she gave me a horse. The horse she
gave me was Gem: a brown mare, and on the favourite list of almost every ride
leader I’d ask to recommend me a horse (along with Hugo and Robbie, two other
popular choices). The RLs are adrenaline junkies and a recommendation usually
means one thing: that the horse is sweet-natured, but a bit of a mentalist that
likes to gallop everywhere. I guessed I was getting my faster, galloping ride
after all! Someone double checking that Gem’s Pelham had the curb chain on
rather confirmed my suspicions that she liked to run too J
A few minutes and a few chats later, and this
beautiful ball of brown fluff came out for me. I recognised her a mile away –
she’s an unremarkable looking horse, a fluffy bright bay TB with no white
markings on her face – just her hind fetlocks, but that shaggy coat hides a
cracking horse! I got on, got my
stirrups sorted, and enjoyed some time have a nice scratch with Gem. I tried to
guess what height she was, but really couldn’t accurately tell from sitting on
her – I’d met her at the mounting block, so it’s hard to gauge height when you
don’t meet a horse from the ground. She felt little though – her neck was in
proportion to her body, but it wasn’t as long as Corrie’s, or as solid and
upright as Starsky’s. I was glad Starsky was my first taste of more ragged
speed: retrospect has made me realise that riding big has actually become my
new safety zone out hacking (compared to years schooling mostly 14.2-15.2hh
horses), and a big neck is rather a comfort to have in front of you when going
at speed. Gem actually looked smaller than Hugo, who was lead horse with A’s
mum, who I’d never had as ride leader before, though it was hard to compare as
I was mounted at the time, and Hugo’s a much more medium-weight build with
bone, compared to the finer Gem.
This is the view I was enjoying before I even left:
The ride (me, a teen on Weeza and an older man on
Hero) all set off to the river in that order behind AM on Hugo. The river was a
bit nuts after the rain: it was higher and faster than usual. Gem had a bit of
a slip in it, but never got close to losing her footing. Her and Hugo found a
shelf on the far river’s edge that got them higher out of the water and sooner.
Weeza, at 13.2hh took a bit more time bless her.
The RL asked who’d been out for 2hr hacks before: it
was the man’s first time upgrading from a 1hr, and the girl had been on my
first ever hack at the yard 6 months earlier. I said I’d been on loads, but
this was my first time on Gem. I asked AM about her, and apparently Gem is her
first choice for doing Common Rides on, and if she’d the cash to buy and keep horses,
then she’d retire Gem, Hugo and the coloured mare Roma tomorrow, just riding
them for personal use. She also said Gem when she arrived had been named Noisy,
as that’s exactly what she was. I
wondered if she’d earned her new name because a gem is exactly what she was – I
was about to find out J
AM also said she reckoned Gem was about 17-17.2hh. I smiled and nodded, not
believing a word of it, as she didn’t feel more than 16hh to ride, and her trot
stride is shorter than Hugo’s.
Gem’s trot was easy: relatively shorter than any of
the horses I’ve ridden at the yard except for Frankie, but not choppy, abrupt
or out of place for her size. I had it immediately, and bore in mind good form
for rising trot, which Marie’s schooling had made me think of. A friend had
also said that in rising trot ‘your bottom should leave the saddle, but not
your breeches’. She also told the tale of a friend of her’s that hunts a sharp
horse and who says “I can’t rise all the way up on my sharp horse, as I can’t
be sure she’ll still be there by the time I get back down again!” Gem is not a
catapulter like the bigger horses, so checking that I was light, subtle and
loose was easy.
We came to our first canter on the hill, and Hugo was
finally behaving like the horse I’ve been told about – the insatiable, speedy
galloper who dances with excitement. He leapt into action like he was Lucky,
and off I went on Gem. I genuinely had no nerves: while she’d taken off from
halt, it didn’t have the lurching, G-force pushing against you in the
saddle-type feel that Starsky does. She went for it though, and I immediately
felt in the right place above her back.
We got onto the relative flat in the woods, where the
canter sections come up thick and fast. The RL checked we were all okay, and
made sure we knew where the puddles were. She also told me that Gem’s a
notorious puddle-dodger, and on many occasion she’d ended up on her neck
because of it. I was glad to have that info: it meant I knew to steer to one
side well in advance, rather than let Gem do a wall-of-death around the edge of
the puddle like a motorbike, with no notice. The first canter felt at the
faster end of steady, and was wonderful: I just wish we’d started earlier, as
RL was worried about the later riders making it around puddles (and, to be
fair, it’s where another lady and Sophie had parted company last time out). On
the slightly uphill canter with the lake of a puddle and tree-down, we were
made to walk past the puddle before we started the canter as AM thinks the
ground’s a bit soft to the left. Hugo and Gem took it upon themselves to run
off and race a bit afterwards, and the sudden rush of speed felt fab!
On the last canter in the woods, the puddles are
unavoidable, so we were allowed to canter the whole way along. Gem and Hugo
were taking off, whereas Weeza and Hero were keeping their own paces as a pair
at the back, just as they had done for every other stretch. I heard a loud
‘WHOA!’ from the man on Hero, I looked around and although he was still on, I
passed the whoa on to AM and we stopped a bit sooner than expected. AM was
wondering what it was for, as the man was alright. What she couldn’t see through
me and Gem though, was that Weeza was now riderless. I grabbed a hold of the
mare while AM went back. The girl was fine – despite the fact there’s no motorbiking
possible around the puddles, she’d come off in her first ever fall, much to her
surprise. She was fine and happy to get on, but admitted to her adrenaline
pumping a bit. We assured her that it’s nearly an hour until we get to the
railway line again anyway, so she has lots of walk and trot work to help settle
them both.
I patted and thanked Gem after every trot and canter.
I’d been enjoying her: she felt fast, but without the jerking of Starsky, and
without his spooking either. Roadworks, builders, skips, bikes, traffic,
barking dogs – not once did she so much as look. We’d a cold, fresh and sunny
autumnal morning, and I enjoyed every view and every trot with a grin on my
face. Gem was loveable in every pace J
We reached the end of town, and started to descent
downhill on the route that takes us to the railway line. Gem was not happy
about being second, and kept wandering out to try and overtake Hugo. I spent a
lot of time yielding her in, and we got a nice accidental shoulder-in at one
point too! We finally got to the railway line, and it was clear: AM’s plan was
that we would gallop the whole length of it, even going a bit further than most
leaders normally do. Hugo took off like crap off a stick, as did we but without
feeling jerky or rushed: Gem is oddly smooth despite not going sequentially through
the gears. We’d started early, so were rather fast by the time we’d gone under
the first bridge – the noise was incredible!
Just as we’d come onto the second half of the railway
line, where it turns a little and there’s a second bridge, we saw what we
didn’t want to see – the tail end of the trek. AM was not pleased: treks and
hacks are meant to take different routes so that they never meet on canter
routes, and the ride leader had taken the ‘hack route’ for her trek. Hugo was
not pleased, and while he down-transitioned from gallop to canter, he wouldn’t
stop cantering! In all her years riding, it’s the first time AM had a ‘brake
failure’ on Hugo. Further down the track that she’d planned, our ride came to a
stop. I’d hoped we’d halt and then resume once the trek was far enough ahead
that we wouldn’t be anywhere near them when we were charging along. Our leader
made us walk and trot though, rather than wait and canter. We caught up to the
ride and went past it, and the trek leader was A, my leader’s daughter. She
sniped at her mother about why did we need past when she asked: mother quickly
let her know that we left the yard first, we’re going faster, and A was the one
who had taken the hack route for her trek. Gem and Ransom also nearly kicked
the living daylights out of one another, so getting past was fun. AM even said felt she had to apologise for
her daughter’s behaviour. It didn’t bother me – we’ve all been grumpy with our
mums as teenagers, and we were getting past regardless of what A said!
The rest of the ride was a happy mix of walk, trot
and conversation. Gem was rather opinionated though, and wanted to lead: AM
said she’d lead a whole Common Ride if she was allowed! She was happy for me to
lead Hugo in walk for a while, but I had to bring Gem back when we got nearer
the road: despite listening to subtle rein aids to steer, Gem was ignoring them
to stop, so I had to hold her. I hate doing that with any horse, never mind one
in a Pelham and curb chain, but she was ignoring me entirely. Hugo eventually
got ahead, but every time there was room for two abreast, Gem would try and
race past. I wish I’d been out with L, as she’d have let me go side-by-side,
and been happy for me to lead in places rather than fight with my horse.
Upon leaving the yard, I’d turned my phone app on to
measure the duration, speed etc of the ride. I’d not planned on taking any
photos or videos while it was running, for fear of killing the battery.
However, we got back to the river and the noise was spectacular – it wasn’t
just the usual sound of flowing water. With the water level so high and the
flow so fast, the river was making a boom and a whoosh, and because the dry
leaves, almost ready to fall from the trees, were meeting the water level now,
there was an incredible rustling sound. I saw I still had half my battery, so
opened up the video to get the sound: after about 5 seconds, my phone died. As
it turns out, the battery was still half full, it had just had a brain freeze.
Still, I’m a bit annoyed that my first measured hack was missing the last
15mins or so, and the video I was trying to get didn’t work either. Grr!
Still, here’s my read-out from that hack. I thought
it’d be fun to download this, and see how different horses and ride leaders
compare in terms of speed and duration. I’d definitely love a side-by-side
comparison of a ‘Lucky’ hack, and a hack on the same route with a sane leader
and horse instead! lol. I wonder if you can guess where the railway line is, and
the canter stretches in the first half? lol. We’d covered almost 13km before my
phone cut out, and the max speed measured on the right was 28.1km/hr. I do
wonder how Starsky compares, and with a faster ride leader than AM!
I can see the canter uphill, the 4 woodland canters,
and the railway line as clear as day. It’s tickled me to see the ‘take-over
Hugo’ trots after the short gallop are almost as fast as some of the steadier
canters! Lol.
I had a blast on this hack: Gem had gone as fast as
Hugo would allow, came back to me when it mattered, hadn’t spooked or shied
even once, and had made me at ease from the moment dot. I am convinced she was
renamed from Noisy because she has absolutely turned out to be a gem of a horse
J
I fussed Gem as much as I could when I got off, but
she was taken away rather quickly. I hadn’t even had time to gauge her height!
The YO was in the office when I picked up my bag, and I thanked her sincerely –
I gushed about how fab Gem was, and how lucky I felt to have been given her
without asking, as I know she’s like Hugo and usually there’s a queue for her!
There’s also lots of deals on this month, so for even cheaper than my usual
cheap hack, I decided to ride on Monday rather than do it for more at a
weekend. The YO said it was online booking only, so I did it as soon as I got
home, and was happy that there were lots of places left. I enjoyed Gem that
much, I was even going to ask for her again only two days later!
So, despite going from a reckless need for speed, to
a pathetic ‘I’m ill and incapable’ mood, I’d taken out a new horse, gone fairly
fast and had a ball. Gem had not just put a temporary smile on my face, but the
hack had cleared my negative mood in its entirety. The power of horse, eh? :D
I also
reflected on how far I’d come in 6 months: I’d gone from adoring Frankie and
asking for her as she was fun as well as a known quantity, to feeling nervous
riding a truly big horse for the first time, to taking one of the biggest and
most complex horses out for a hack and jumped him (Ransom), to regularly
galloping at greater speeds on different horses, including not using any potential
Jesus straps. It also felt kind of right that I’d started on a little bay Welsh
D mare that I fell for, and 6 months later had a tall, slim Irish bay TB mare
that I immediately loved too. I’ve bookended my 6 months with two very
different but beautiful brown mares, who are are great mirrors of my progress!
I’m proud of how far I’ve come so far, and can’t wait to see where this story
goes J I also can’t wait to
see what kind of rider I am when Common Riding season kicks off next summer,
assuming I’m in work and can afford to do one or two by then. I wonder which
horses I’ll have fallen in love with by then, and which I’m capable enough to
take out… Only time will tell, but I’m smiling about the thought of it all
already :D
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