Spring = Time to ride

My husband works commercial construction turnarounds right now, which means he works REALLY hard, long hours for a couple months and is laid off in between. Lucky for me, he was laid off this past Thursday, just when the weather turned out beautiful! I thought long and hard about it, and decided that I wouldn't mind if he did the first 10 rides on my horse (he says that a horse who is going to buck will most likely do it within the first 10 rides- we'll see.) Husband also has a young 3 year old, Poco Tiveo Cee (aka Sonny) that he purchased last October from Mr. Frank Perkins, Perkins Ranch, Tyler, TX, who he hopes to shape into a roping horse for himself. Sonny has had 30-60 days of riding on him at the Perkins Ranch before he was sold, but not much since then.

On Saturday, the husband decided it was time to ride our two young horses. He started with Sonny. The young bay performed quite nicely in the pasture and handled himself well. OK, so really, I wasn't really paying attention to what Sonny was doing, because I was anxious about Tex's third ride ever that was soon to come. I did, however, snap a few pictures of Sonny's ride.



Next was Tex. I brushed him while husband unsaddled Sonny, and discussed with him (Tex) all the reasons why he should behave well and remember everything he had done on the ground with me. Husband threw a saddle on him, put the bosal over his nose, and all too soon took him out in the pasture. I asked him to please only work on "go" and "stop" that day. Husband stepped his left foot into the stirrup and swung over, ready to go wherever my poor little horse might take him.

Tex stood still, sniffed husband's foot, sniffed his other foot, and then kept standing there. Husband put the reins forward and kissed, asking him to go forward. My suspense was killing me by this point. I wanted to just take control and tell my horse to go forward like we were lunging. Tex turned his head to the right, trying to figure out what husband wanted him to do. Husband continued to kiss, kiss, kiss, and finally took the end of the rein and touched it to Tex's rump. VOILA! He walked! And once he started walking, he kept walking (except for one small detour- he tucked his nose to the ground to "cut" my dog out of the pasture at a walk, then kept walking). Even better, when it came time for the WHOA, he remembered what that meant, and he stopped. After several repetitions of this kiss, kiss, kiss, and then WHOA, he figured out that kiss means walk forward, and that WHOA, even if it's from his back, means stop.

After it was over, I finally breathed, we unsaddled, fed, and I went inside to start supper. And then I cried. I wanted to do that third ride myself SO BADLY. I wanted to feel what it felt like up in that saddle.

I was so proud of my horse, but so sad that I couldn't do it myself. After some reasoning, I figured out that I probably would have had husband do the first 10 rides anyway, pregnant or not. Now, after I have the baby (11 weeks from baby, 17 weeks from horse riding)I'll be able to hop on with a little more confidence, having seen that Tex isn't going to throw a fit.



Now, I'm hoping that I'll love the baby as much as I love Tex.....