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Weekend at a Different Ranch
Jan. 26th, 2004 08:11 amSaturday morning, Stephen and I met at my place and drove up to the stable where Scott has been training his horse. There were a pair of horses Mitch, Scott's trainer, wanted us to look at. They were brothers ho were trained to drive as a team and had been together for twelve years. Our primary concern was separating them. Well, they both acted up when they couldn't see each other. So that was a bust.
Stephen and I hung around Mitch's ranch for the day. We learned some useful things. We also met Scott's horse, Trinity. Lovely young mare who seemed very gentle. Mitch also showed us how to pick the horse's foot and we just generally helped out around the farm. We learned a lot so we started inquiring about lessons. In a very different fashion than Rick, he indicated that learning to trot, for us, was rather pointless as we'd need to know how to lope. He made this distinction from cantering. As I understand it, a lope is a slower version of a canter, and it's gathered. That's not to say we shouldn't learn to trot, but we should be focusing on loping and cantering.
With Rick, we haven't been cantering much because a) he doesn't trust us as riders and b) he doesn't trust the horses. We'll continue to work with Rick, but we're also going to be working with Mitch. The hitch is that at Bobby's Ranch, we'll be riding western and at Mitch's place, I believe we'll wind up in English saddles.
We met a couple of other horses which are lease candidates. We're favoring this as it will be less of a financial burden on Stephen and myself.
I'm looking forward to going up to Mitch's again. He's said we can spend the day up there learning things if we a) help out and b) stay out of the way. I think I can manage that. Mitch is a straight shooter. Tells you to shut up when you should shut up. Tells you what you've done wrong and why. And corrects it. That makes me happy.
Stephen and I hung around Mitch's ranch for the day. We learned some useful things. We also met Scott's horse, Trinity. Lovely young mare who seemed very gentle. Mitch also showed us how to pick the horse's foot and we just generally helped out around the farm. We learned a lot so we started inquiring about lessons. In a very different fashion than Rick, he indicated that learning to trot, for us, was rather pointless as we'd need to know how to lope. He made this distinction from cantering. As I understand it, a lope is a slower version of a canter, and it's gathered. That's not to say we shouldn't learn to trot, but we should be focusing on loping and cantering.
With Rick, we haven't been cantering much because a) he doesn't trust us as riders and b) he doesn't trust the horses. We'll continue to work with Rick, but we're also going to be working with Mitch. The hitch is that at Bobby's Ranch, we'll be riding western and at Mitch's place, I believe we'll wind up in English saddles.
We met a couple of other horses which are lease candidates. We're favoring this as it will be less of a financial burden on Stephen and myself.
I'm looking forward to going up to Mitch's again. He's said we can spend the day up there learning things if we a) help out and b) stay out of the way. I think I can manage that. Mitch is a straight shooter. Tells you to shut up when you should shut up. Tells you what you've done wrong and why. And corrects it. That makes me happy.
