prowler1971 | Mondays... now on Thursdays...

So in our first night of Thursday riding, it was Stephen, Chris, Frank (who was late) and me. Rick asked me if I wanted to try riding one of the smaller horses. I said sure.

This was a horse that could do a jog so slow, I thought it was walking. Brawny certainly walked faster than this horse jogged. And she wasn't that much smaller than some of the bigger horses. But we did a good walk, jog and trot. She responded well to the neck commands and I only occasionally had to go to split reign.

We tried to get up to a canter but she started before I gave the command (picking it up from the horse in front of her) and where I still had loose reigns, I had little control, which I had to get back quickly. So I never did get to canter. She had a tendency to spook when Elsie, who was being ridden by Frank, came up behind us. Now I know why people kept getting out of my way. And Frank doesn't seem to have the thought process which tells him to cut across when he's tailgating.

Frank, naturally, had some difficulty with Elsie. Stephen was on King and doing well. Chris was on Cedric who was also doing well. I felt like I learned some important things last week and tried to apply them. They mostly worked. I'd like to ride different horses each week so I don't get complacement. I think I'd like to ride Elsie again to see if what I have learned will help me to have better control of her.

We ride again Thursday next week, then back to Mondays for the holiday weeks.

Oh yeah, Denmark was tied to the post while we were riding. I actually watched as he untied himself with his teeth. But once he'd done that, he couldn't figure out that he had to pull the rope through the ring it was tied to. So he just soot there.

"I'm FREE!!!!!!! Now what?"