Okay so we have all established that I am a green rider....I mean I've ridden since I was 10 off and on...more off then on. Do you remember when you were a kid riding and you had no fear.
I rode my friends horses because my mom raised me pretty much as a single mom and we didn't have a ton of extra money. Especially money for a pony and all the stuff that goes along with owning a horse.
I remember the first horse I ever rode. He was a palomino snow cap Appy. (I didn't know what that was and really didn't care) His name was Sunny. I also didn't know how exceptional he was back then. (Ahh the things we know now) He was my best friends sisters horse, she had moved on to boys and cars so Sunny wasn't being used much until I came along.
(OT, My BFF was madly in love with Micheal Jackson, I was into Duran Duran lot's of hours belting out Wild Boys and Billy Jean in her hay loft)
I didn't know how to do a butterfly knot so it was just easier to ride bareback...we rode all over the Amboy hills..logging trails to the reservoir, up Mt. Tum Tum (yes that was the name of the MT.) We rode to the corner store, jumped chains that had no trespassing signs hanging from them to get to logging roads, raced in the pastures, had not a care in the world.
I remember the first time my mom saw me on a horse galloping up the driveway, I don't know how she let me ride off after that...no helmet, no saddle, just my hands tangled in his mane and reins. I can still feel that adrenaline rush. Thank you Sunny for giving me such amazing memories.
Oh and my second Cousins horse Richard, yes his name was Richard, my aunt would always say you can ride him if you can catch him. God I hated that horse...he was fun to ride but I swear I spent more time chasing him around than I ever did riding him. I always had to have at LEAST an hours head start on my friends if I was riding him that day. He was a show horse....I think that means he was used for 4-H.
I want just a quarter of that fearlessness back.
I will find it. It's just taking time, the more I ride the more comfortable I become....I am slowly building up that confidence. Grace and I did ride in the outdoor and it was great...it was a little hard riding a giraffe since the nosey moo cows came over to gawk at us. Grace wasn't very impressed with them, but it was one step closer to taking her out in the open pasture.