Horsemasters Pony Club for Adults!

About a month ago, I joined the Horsemasters group at Hundred Acre Wood, finally! I have been wanting to do this since I first heard of it about 4 years ago! At that time, Welcome Home Farm with Sam Morrison and Rachael at HAW were taking turns hosting the Pony Club, Prime Time Riders, but it got to be too much, so they split and Rachael has the meetings at her farm for people in her area, and Sam does the same.

Anyway, I am using one of Rachael's horses to ride in the lessons. She came from PDQ farm and is a 19 yo spotted Saddlebred mare named Satin. Okay, I admit to having a bit of a bias against Saddlebreds. I've seen some really nutty horses and saddleseat is something I've never aspired too. I think it just looks odd and uncomfortable for both horse and rider. JMHO. But Satin was a hunter, I'm told. She's very tall and very thin in build, not like my couch of a QH. So I go out to get her in the pasture and she doesn't look too happy to see me. The person helping me said she can be a "brat" in the stall and we should get a hay bag to keep her happy while I groom and tack up. Great! So with this warning in my head, I lead her into the stall and she tries to come right back out again! We get her tied and she is just attacking the hay in the hay bag. To me, this looked like anxious behavior, she was nervous being in the stall. Once I realized that, I felt more comfortable and was quiet and kind with her. I was alert, because they can hurt you if they're nervous, but she didn't display any defensive behavior, and I figured if she was that bad, Rachael wouldn't let people use her for lessons. We got tacked up and went to the ring and this horse knows her stuff. At the end of the lesson with Sam Morrison, she gave me the best feedback, that I had a connection with the horse and flowed well with her. I also was told I started very tense, was using my legs wrong, etc, usual things I do.

Walking back to the barn, Satin had her head lower, and her eye softer. I praised her and told her she was going to be good in the stall because I wouldn't do anything to hurt her, and she was fine. When the girls had lessons next, I went out and found Satin and gave her some scratches and reintroduced myself.

This week, we rode with Becky Morse and I picked Satin again. She was great in the stall, I probably didn't even need the hay, because she just played with it mostly. No problem bridling at all, last time she had played a giraffe and I was JUST tall enough to convince her it wouldn't work! Again I started out tense, but we got some really good trot work, some great upward transitions and worked on trot, halt. She's a great horse, and I'm coming to really like her. I spent time scratching her bug bites and trying to find her favorite itchy places. So much for my bias of Saddlebreds! I truly never thought I'd ride one by choice and now I look forward to our lessons together!