The Cadence of Hoofbeats

So this morning I went to the stable with my dad to ride Magoo since I missed my lesson last week. It was just going to be me riding, no trainer or anything. I decided I wasn’t going to jump, I was just going to work on the flat and bareback if he was in a good mood.

Well boy was he in a good mood.

Generally Magoo likes to pretend he’s this big tough guy who is like super strong and doesn’t like anybody, although he’s amazing with little kids, people who feed him, and me. But he always points his ears back to look tough. He doesn’t do anything, he never would (to a human), but he likes to pretend.

Today when I opened his door there was no look of false irritation on his face. Just one of sheer joy. His ears were as forward as they could be, his head was up, and it looked as if his eyes were smiling. He came right to me and let me halter him and bring him to the wash stall. He thoroughly enjoyed being groomed. He was ecstatic when I scratched the itch on his neck and didn’t get irritated when I did his girth. He was being nice to my dad and giving him kisses and eating cookies and just loving it. The best part is that he let me hug his face. When I tried it I was shocked- he never lets me, he just throws his head up. That was when I knew it was going to be a good ride.

Everybody always says he has a bad sitting trot, but frankly they must be doing it wrong. He can be a pretty fast guy, but I’ve gotten to the point with him where I can get him to trot and canter slowly so it’s comfortable to sit in both the trot and the canter. I just love the connection that I have with this horse <3 We did canter circles, figure eights, and serpentines. He was doing a nice collected canter and only took a single trot step between his lead changes, which was just amazing because he never does that. The owner saw us when she was walking up to her house and came over and said she was impressed that he was going nicely. She doesn’t see me ride him that often, even though she knows I love him, and I guess she’s used to seeing him whip around the ring when other people ride him. But he knows me too well to think I’d let him do that.

I decided that I’d ride bareback since he was such a good boy. He’s insanely comfy bareback because he’s so fluffy, and he has a nice dip where you can sit with a not very prominent spine. I’d only ever walked and trotted him bareback, since I had just done it when we were cooling off a few times. I decided that I’d canter him bareback today for the first time.

That was the most amazing canter ever. We were completely in sync, and I let go with one hand to just feel the wind as we cantered around the ring. I had a huge smile on my face, and my dad was happy that I was so happy.

I just love him so much I don’t even know how to put it into words. He will forever be my first horse love, and my baby boy. I don’t know what I’m going to be like when I have to leave him for college.

Also the owner had me change his kimberwick to a loose-ring doctor bristol after I rode. I hope that I ride him tomorrow in my lesson so I see how he reacts. At first I thought it’d be a nicer bit, but read that doctor bristols are pretty harsh… are they harsher than the kimberwick? Can anybody tell me?