Before now, I've never really ridden a horse. I mean, I've gone on trail rides, but those are always with old, trail ride horses, who know to just follow the horse in front of them. The trails are always really easy trails, and although they told us how to direct the horse, you really didn't have to. The horse just knew what he was supposed to do.
My first lesson was pretty simple. I rode Jake, since out of the five horses my boyfriend's parents have, he's the most trained, and generally the most reliable.
But he is a huge horse. He's part draft horse, and he's too tall for me to mount by myself. My boyfriend had to give me a leg up, and even then I can barely get my leg over his back. But I did it alright.
My first lesson basically consisted of learning how to make him go, how to turn, make him stop, and back up. I just walked around the round corral on him for a while. I don't really need to direct him in there, it's just a circle, although I did make him turn around a few times. When he felt like it. He can be a little stubborn, and it's kind hard, because I know if he really doesn't want to go the way I want him to go, it's very likely that I just won't go that way.
Getting off isn't quite as hard as getting on. There's just sometimes a little drop, cause I can't really reach the ground very well while I'm still holding on to him.
Until the next ride,
<3
