This message is from: Amy <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Belle is my nine year old Fjord mare. I've had her for about three
years and we've mostly done trail riding, but always with one or two
other people. The other day, the weather was nice and I had a saddle
on trial period that I wanted to try, so I decided to try riding
Belle away from my farm and over to a trail around some ponds to the
south.
At home, Belle is the only one of my horses that seems to care about
where the other horses are, and when I take a horse away in the
trailer, she's the only one that will trot along the fence line and
call out to the horse. So I thought she might be a little herd
bound, and I was prepared to work on that if we got to the end of my
property and she put up a fuss. But she motored right on past my
south fence line and on over to the cow pasture we have to cut
through to get to the ponds. I was surprised, but pleasantly so!
By the time we were about half way around the ponds, I think it
finally occurred to her that she had headed out by herself, but all
she did was stop and look in the direction of the farm. We stood
there for about a minute or two, and then she moved on. She never
once called out for the horses, and she was very well behaved. We
even did a long stretch of trotting, which is her favorite gait.
I know that riding alone has its risks, esp. for someone who lives
alone and might go missing for days before someone noticed, but I've
been taking lots of precautions. And I'm having such a good time! I
love the feeling of really being in tune with the horse, which
doesn't happen when I ride with other people.
I took Belle out again today, for our second solo ride, and she was
just as good, so we went a little further. Her reaction to things
that worry her is to stop and stare, and that's a whole lot better
than the other possibilities. I love my mohawk pony!
--Amy
--
Marehaven Farm ~*~ Longmont, CO
http://www.marehaven.org
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