03/19/2026
Rose had 3 rides on her last summer and then got the winter off. Is she fit? Absolutely not. Is she broke? Also no lol. Did I expect her to remember anything from her 3 rides pre winter? I expected her to remember to move away from pressure and stop when asked. Not perfectly, but to have some understanding of those two concepts. We rode for about 25 minutes, mostly walk with hill work with a little bit of trot. I would never expect to take a horse that's had time off to carry me around at quicker gaits for 45 mins to an hour.
Now, here's what I got from this ride:
- She did not stand nicely at the mounting block
- She moved off of leg after the encouragement of clucking
- She DID stop and steer
- She was not spooky
Overall, I'm thrilled with this ride. She did 90% of what I asked of her, had brakes and was in tune with me. The mounting block we can work on, and fitness is also workable. She wasn't trying to run off. The main thing when bringing horses back into work isn't getting them going at the canter or trot and jumping, etc. it's having them pay attention to you.