I got scheduled with Ruby again today. Thankfully, she was free, haha. Mazlan was busy again today. Or maybe he didn’t wanna teach me again? *shrug* I dunno. I got another volunteer trainer, don’t know her name. Was supposed to be Rony, but I guess he was busy too.
Ruby was a bit hesitant in coming out of the stables. Or maybe lazy? Stubborn perhaps? No idea. I fed her a couple of carrots and eventually, we got her out. I mounted her and expected another stubborn horse that wouldn’t move at the heel tap (I forgot to get a whip). But she was pretty willing. We walked around the ring, warmed up and got ready to ride. And what a shock, I only needed to tap her once and she went into a trot. She didn’t stop trotting until I reined her in or she felt me getting breathless too. First time that happened! My trainer watched my rising and sitting trot and was apparently satisfied. She didn’t give me many instructions. Not once she mentioned my heels, had to remember that myself.
Then she told me to do the two-point and taught me how. It was a bit choppy at first (as you’ll see in the vid), but I didn’t realise that I was supposed to hold onto the horse neck to balance anyway lol. It got better later and it was awesome! A bit difficult steering when holding on to Ruby’s neck though. Might need to watch a few vids on two-point and work on that part. But it was definitely awesome :D
Later, my trainer decided that I should try canter. Was nervous at first. And it was tough trying to kick Ruby hard when turning the corner to start the canter. Took me a few tries. Then WOOSH we were cantering 8D Took me a while to figure out how to sit a canter without killing my butt, but I finally realised what everyone meant by leaning back when cantering. My butt sort of slided in the saddle when I leaned back, instead of bouncing (or ‘scooping the saddle’ as this vid calls it). Following the rhythm of the hooves was really easy. Only problem I found was my legs not staying as still as I liked and my feet not staying in the stirrups. Really need to work on that D:
But anyway, cantering was THE BEST! I praised Ruby all the way! Petted her neck a lot, encouraged her to keep going, etc. When cantering, there was one time near the end of our ride where I urged her to keep cantering, tapping her with my swinging legs every now and again, saying “Canter!” and “Good girl!” immediately after. We went round the ring about 3 or 4 times. Then she had to stop =/
Not because of me or her. Because two other riders and their trainers decided to share the ring with me lol. The two riders had their horses walking side by side in front of Ruby and I. She slowed to a trot. Smart horse, that one *wub* But despite the other two riders blocking/getting in my way, the ride with Ruby was just heavenly. Cantering made me REALLY breathless but omg I felt sooooooooooo good! I was parched and my throat really dry, but I didn’t care. I was concentrating on Ruby and the track in the ring :D
Once my hour was up, we went back to the stables and I got down. Seemed more like I stumbled down though XD Legs were sooooooooooooo jelly and wobbly! Then we took Ruby to the bathing area and I got to bathe a horse with long mane, finally! xD Ruby was the 2nd horse I bathed. Brushed her down real well, scraped off most of the water, brushed her gorgeous mane and watched my trainer spray some meds on the sore on her withers, poor girl. I fed her a few carrots, then left her to dry off while I fed the other horses in the stables. They all got 2 pieces from me, no more XD The rest I saved specially for Ruby!
I went back to her, finished the bag of carrots, checked to see if she was dry, then led her back to her stall. She was amazing from start to end. So quiet and docile... And smart! I don’t know, I just get the feeling that she’s extremely smart! I just might have found my fav horse for the moment :D We’ll see. I asked if I could be scheduled with her again next week. Apparently, she’s not a beginner’s horse. Sulaiman, the... manager? told us that Ruby is for advanced riders, but if I’m learning to canter, I could ride her hehe. Hmm, that’s probably why Ruby got switched with Flicka in my Ninth Lesson. Hopefully I get her and we get to try riding in the main arena. Then I get to test out steering with her. The ring was pretty straightforward, so I didn’t need to do much steering as compared to in the main arena.
Today was just splendid. *nod* Oh, and enjoy dat short tail XD Ruby’s tail is just SO cute!
Sorry about the extremely short scenes near the end of the vid. My parents are silly. Just because there was a tarp and some trees in the way, they didn’t want to continue the vid. It’s no wonder why they missed taking a vid of my first canter! :( I would’ve loved to see my first canter! So unfair. I did so many canters too! *sigh* And sorry for the blurness in some scenes. Parents zoomed in way too much -.- I need a machine that takes videos for me, zooming in when necessary and zooming out when not and following my movements steadily... Would be able to take of the entire hour then...
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