This first installment is the beginning of a 3-part post, sharing my experiences and thoughts about the Walk/Trot/Canter/Trail Ride Class I participated in on Saturday.
What a monumental day it was for me. I forged ahead conquering many personal obstacles, including fear, self-confidence issues, self-doubt, and even overcoming some physical challenges, too. I learned some new things about myself along the way, as well.
Upon arriving at Cedar Hill Farm, everyone got their horses tacked up beside the trailers, and walked the horses over to the indoor arena, where we were to first warm up our horses at a walk. I brought my mounting block and used that for mounting. I have to admit I just couldn’t connect with Atta Bay, even though she was sweet on the ground. I I kept eye-balling Rosie with her rider, L, and wishing I had Rosie to ride instead. This desire to ride Rosie and my later decision, when offered the choice to change mounts, would prove to be quite a surprise for me.
Rosie seemed happy to see me, even before I gave her the cookies I brought, too. But Rosie had a job to do, helping her new rider regain her self-confidence, and my horse for the day was Atta Bay, so I gave her a cookie, too.
(There’s Rosie in the background behind Atta Bay)
I immediately noticed a difference between riding Atta Bay and riding Rosie. If I had to compare what it felt like, I’d have to compare Atta Bay to a Manual Transmission vehicle, while Rosie would be an Automatic vehicle. With Rosie, I could basically just set her on Cruise Control and sit back and enjoy the ride. She’d get me where I wanted to go, with only a few steering adjustments and a tap on the gas to speed up a little.
Whereas with Atta Bay, she expects to be actively driven by her driver. No sitting around just enjoying the scenery while she does all the work. She doesn’t just obediently follow the line of equine cars rolling along in front of her either. Atta Bay expects to be quietly and firmly ‘shifted’ and steered, or she’ll wander off in another direction, or into a tree (just to make sure her driver is paying attention).
While I’d compare Rosie to a reliable, tough Chevy Suburban, I’d compare Atta Bay to a spunky, little Volkswagen Bug. Rosie will stand around and wait (and even take a nap) until her driver is ready to go or gives a signal, while Atta Bay wants to go, go go! No standing around for that girl. No sirree!
Who Me?
So, you can imagine that I was kept quite busy ‘driving’ Atta Bay on Saturday and I don’t have any fun videos of me from Atta Bay’s back while on the trail ride or of our trotting and cantering. Oh and speaking of Atta Bay’s trotting and cantering. Wow. So much different than Rosie’s cute little smooth trot. Atta Bay rides a lot like Baby Doll did in a trot….rough! It feels more like Atta Bay is using her front legs as a jackhammer or trying to pound posts into the ground. Whew! I had seriously sore shoulders, back and neck on Saturday night.
Oh! And my arms and wrists were sore, too. Because Atta Bay wants to be sure her driver is an active participant at all times, she likes to argue a little bit about the choice of directions, or why we’re stopping when she never saw any red lights or stop signs anywhere.
She’s not as argumentative as my Baby Doll was, though. She doesn’t get nasty about it, nor does she crow hop, spin or try to run backwards or take off. She just tries to pull her head in the direction she wants to go to convince her driver that that is the correct way to go. It doesn’t take all that much convincing that her driver knows best, though.
I think I know now why Colleen chose Atta Bay for me to ride. And not only because another rider needed to ride Rosie, but because I’ll never learn to be a better rider if I only ride horses like Rosie. And on the opposite end, I’ll never learn to be a good rider if I ride a horse like Baby Doll either.
There’s a fine line between riding a horse that challenges you and riding a horse that scares the crap out of you. On a horse that terrifies you, you’ll forget that riding is fun and you’ll slowly lose your self confidence, while replacing it with fear.
That’s what was happening with Baby Doll and I. And the end result was extremely painful.
But riding a horse like Atta Bay, while challenging and certainly not a walk-in-the-park, is also satisfying, exciting and a great learning experience, along with building self-confidence, too.
Atta Bay in her pen taking a break while I ate lunch
To be Continued………………..
23 comments :
That's awesome that you stepped out of your comfort zone and rode Atta Bay. Your description of manual vs. auto transmission was very apt, and I may steal it; that's how Poco is. If you ain't steering, he's veering. Can't go to sleep up there/
Can't wait for the next installment.
Like your thoughtful comparisons - and it's true, you were ready for the next step - great hearing about your progress!
Congratulations. You got it. You need to challenge yourself by riding a variety of horses. Even the push button ones can have an off day and it's nice to be able to handle anything they can throw at you.
I was the same way when I was learning to ride. Always wanted the same horse CrackerJack. They put me on a fiesty little mare Misty one day and I didn't know what to do with myself. In the end it helped me.
Can't wait to hear the rest of the story.
Lisa, yes, it does sound like Atta Bay was a little bit of a hand full but as you said, a good learning experience for you. Keeping you focused on riding and building confidence. Sounds like a good thing to change horses to keep you on your toes. Can't wait to hear more, you go girl!!!!!
Still no riding for me, weather is turning bad again, more snow. Maybe 8 inches of it today! ugh!!!
hugs....
Jane and Gil
Lisa, you are so inspiring!
I envy your opportunity to try different horses with a trainer present. Sounds like a wonderful day.
I look forward to two and three.
Go, Lisa, I start up my lessons again next month. My trainer has been on paternity leave and of course I don't really like doing much riding when it is below freezing, so I wait until the weather is back up. I know what you mean, when I started my lessons I started on a horse that just was there, when I stopped for the winter I was starting on one that I had to do a little more work and really learn to curb my fears or should I say face my fears and work through them. The horse wouldn't do bad things but he won't let me pull on his mouth which means I had to learn to use my seat correctly and so on. I really am looking forward to getting back into the saddle. I still have tons of fear issue's to get through and hopefully by the end of this spring and the beginning of summer, I will have worked through them and will be on my own horses. I am thinking of trailering my horse over to the stables for my lessons later this summer. Good luck, and keep up the good work.
Very interesting, Lisa! I think I see where this is going, I'll wait for the next installment to see if I'm right. I will say that humans do need to be challenged to keep improving.
I knew you could do it! It's nice to know that you are learning as you go too. Soon you'll be able to ride anything with 4 legs. hehehehe
Atta Girl~ you accepted the challnge and have new insights to your ability! I am so happpy that you are doing this trail class...and in the snow! Snow is not easy to ride in!
Good attitude. One of the things that helped Betty and me in our early riding years -- the first 10 or so -- is that we didn't own a horse. We rode at every opportunity on trips, but that meant we rode a lot of different horses. And, as you said, that helps.
Our friend and mentor in Canada always reminded us, "You can be a rider or a passenger. It's better to be a rider."
Dan
I think you have discovered the difference between sitting a horse and riding a horse. You were no longer a passive passenger, but became an active partner.
Good job!
You figured it out! And it was a good experience! You described your time with Atta Bay very well and in my opinion, it was just right. Good job Lisa...and she is a cutie.
Good for you! I've always said that my old mare, Punki, taught me more than any human trainer could have ever taught me. Horses really are the best teaches and I'm glad (for you) that Colleen saw you were ready for a bigger challenge. We can't get lazy now! Very proud of you for facing your fears head on and climbing into the saddle once again.
Thanks so much for sharing this experience. It has been very inspiring and I look forward to future installments!
That is how Indigo is. You can't just point her in a direction cause shes gonna look at something and walk herself right into it.
Lisa, this was such a good post and description! It's exactly what I felt after riding Zoe in my last lesson. She is not a Rosie, she is more like an Atta Bay. You have to learn to ride her. Yet I didn't feel like she was unsafe (the instructor told me she's never bucked) and that I could trust her. Now we've only had one ride, so who knows what the future will hold. But right now, I am becoming a better rider because these school horses are safe, yet challenging enough, to help me grow in my skills. I told my instructor that I didn't want to just be a passenger. I like the "riding" part- as long as I'm not on a horse I'm terrified of and is dangerous, I'm okay! So excited you are enjoying these clinics, can't wait to hear how you are growing as a horsewoman and what horse you end up with next! :)
I think it's a good thing to have ridden two different horses on these trail rides. Rosie is a sweetheart and as I said worth her weight in gold (too bad she's not for sale). Atta Bay is a bit of a challenge but she seems safe, so there should really be no self confidence issues with her either. It's fun to get out and be with friends and see just how much you can push yourself to do. After a job well done by both of you I'm sure even though you were sore, you were just a wee bit proud of yourself for taking it up a notch.
Lisa it sounds like you had a great time in spite of your nerves and those are ok too. Every time I get on Rosie I take a deep breath and say "I can do this", while standing on my tiptoes to just reach her withers.
I loved how you described the automatic vs manual equine made me laugh a bit.
Can't wait to read the rest of the installments!
Good for you! Glad you're enjoying experimenting with different horses. I wish there was a place around here where I could do that (and I wish I could still afford lessons).
Is it ok to just want an easygoing automatic horse? Because I would totally want that. Everything else in life can be so challenging, I would just want a horse to bond with, and to enjoy the ride.
I am reading all good stuff here! you took on the cjhallenge for what it was and Atta BAy sounds like a great horse for you to progress to. Rosie was sweet and a great place to start ,but onwards and upwards my girl!
Funny I saw a mare this weekend that is peferct! wrote about her in my new post ,she would have been a dandy matchfor you ,but Alberta is way too far away to make it work (she was priced right too $1000cdn
Good for you, for sticking with her and meeting the challenge. You are right, that is the only way to become a better rider! Congrats, and can't wait for the next installment.
Ok so I read "Part 2" first but reading this post reminded me of what I forgot to say when I commented on "Part 2" which is this...
I think that when you do find your horse you will be much more happy with a horse that is more Atta Bay than Rosie. I think that you will gain so much more confidence and skill that in not so short a time you would outgrow a Rosie.
An Atta Bay is fun yet challenging, perfect to learn and grow with.
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