Today I went for my first ride on Tango. He is the horse I have always wanted, and was kindly sold to me by Bruce Brock. I am keeping him at the Riverview Ranch (owned by the Randals) and boy have they been a blessing to me. I always dreamt of having a red roan horse with spunk and smarts, and that is what I got. I've nicknamed him "The Redneck" because of his color, and the fact that I myself was raised in a redneck town.
So today was my first ride. My mother and father dropped me off and I went to the barn and got a bucket of oats to coax Tango into the barn. I tied him in his stall, brushed him, and saddled him. While all the while he contentedly ate his oats.
Finally once I was finished I put on his headstall (having to adjust it with it being new and all) and led him out of the barn. I decided, it being the first ride and all, it would be smart to play it safe and ride in the roundpen. So tightening the cinch once more (I had been warned that he bloated, but apparently I didn't take the warning quite seriously enough) me and him toodled on down to the round pen.
Just to play it safe, once I was down there I tightened the cinch again before bailing on (or 'mounted up' if you want to be formal). We walked some circles, I worked on steering with my legs instead of the reins, and then we trotted some circles, and I worked on getting him to go at a reasonably paced (not a teeth chattering) trot. I also came to the conclusion that I may have not chosen the best bit for him... anybody know the differences between a straight shank snaffle and a crooked shank snaffle?
After I had warmed him up and was feeling pretty comfortable (I admit I may have been a little high on myself and not as careful as I should have been) I decided to take it to the next level and go for a stroll in the field. Using the brains God blessed me with I chose the field that Mr. Randal was working in that day (better safe than sorry right?) and pointed my horse north.
We had a little bit of difficulty when I tried to convince him that he could let me open a gate from on top of him, he was fine with going through the gate, he just didn't want to do it my way. Finally we got through the gate (me almost leaving a leg behind on one of the fenceposts) and were off.
We walked through the field for a while, waved to the man on the big green tractor (Mr Randal that is), and then decided to go for a trot. However, if any of you are horse people, or have ridden a horse, you should know that you can't trot in an open field, on an athletic horse I might add, before you have to break into a run.
So I let loose the reins and the horse sped into a lope, I could feel him getting faster, but I knew that he had a tendency to stumble when going too fast, so I held him back. It was when we started to slow down that I realized I was off centered, and so was my saddle. Being just that skilled I stopped the horse and tightened the cinch from up top (okay not skilled, just lazy). Then we were off again.
However this time I wasn't so fortunate, and God, with a little help from Tango, was determined to teach me a lesson. I pulled my horse around to slow him down, but that threw me off balance and my saddle commenced to falling off. Well The Redneck didn't like that very much so he did a few little hops to let me know. Seeing that it was a better judgement call (although my judgement call came a little late in the ride to be much help) I hopped of, spraining my knee in the process.
Determined to be a tough cowgirl (cowgirls don't cry, don't ya know?) I jumped right back up and started settling my nervous horse. After he was settled down (or after I was settled down) I cinched him back up and got back on. Turning around I saw that the tractor was back and prayed that Mr Randal hadn't seen my embarassing tumble.
Me and Tango returned to the barn (at a walk as I had had enough adventure for one day). On our walk back we had a conversation about how he had a stupid, inexperienced rider who had learned her lesson. I'll be changing a few things about how I tack up my horse from now on... And maybe even asking for advice from a wisened ol' horseman I know.
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