Fly's First Ride

Last night I rode Fly Away for the first time since she's been here. She is looking much better as far as soundness goes, still has a slight gimp, but I felt comfortable enough to feel we could just walk around and get used to each other.

She does well with tacking up. Just swung her head the second time I tightened her girth. I reassured her we'd go slow and she was fine when I made the final adjustment. She was a breeze to bridle. She does chew the bit and roots on it some. My next mission will be to find a bit she likes since we have enough bridles for everyone, but not enough bits!

I didn't know how she'd stand for mounting, she was a rock. Its a long way up there, so that is a big plus! I've nicknamed her Moose, although I don't call her that to her face. She's much prettier than a moose. We practised lateral flexing to each side, which she didn't seem to be sure of, but we've done it on the ground, so she did catch on. I asked her to walk off and she did. I know she knows to give to the bit, she was offering that. When giving to the bit, she goes really slow though, when I let her have the long loose rein, she moved out better. She is still so narrow, with little muscle, it feels really weird up there to me. I used the dressage saddle and it fit her well with the regular gullet. She was not scary to ride at all, right now she's kind of lazy, although at the end when I gave her her head, she marched right out and wanted to keep moving instead of standing. We did a little backing too. I think she'll be a great ride once her feet are fixed and she gets some muscling. So far she's just been an easy-peasy girl!

One scary thing that I did, stupid, stupid me, was lead her up back to eat over a downed fence line. Of course she got her hind foot wrapped in it, got nervous and circled me so the tape was wrapped around the back of my legs too. She was dancing and getting worked up and I thought this could turn out really badly for me! I stayed calm and asked her to whoa, which she did. I stepped out of the tape and started breathing again. It took another minute to extricate her, I just moved her around so the tape fell off by itself and she stayed with me even though she was upset. This was on my birthday, and I probably gave myself a few more gray hairs! I know see something we need to work on, accepting things around her legs.