Onyx has a Ride

Yesterday, Onyx had his first ride. My good friend and horse trainer, Lacy, and I talked about his early training, and without a doubt I wanted to be the first in the saddle on my little bay horse.

We trailered out to the barn early afternoon (I'm on an easy peasy rotation and was done by noon), and I was proud of my boy for loading and unloading like he had been prior to the three-year-old tantrums of last week. I turned him out in the arena while I waited for Lacy, and he made the rounds making it very clear he remembered the place.

When Lacy arrived, she worked with him on putting a bit in his mouth for the first time. She had me loosen the sides of his bridle so the bit would be loose in his mouth in order to teach him to carry it by himself. He took to the lesson quite well, but one the bit was firmly secured in his mouth, he spent ten minutes trying to spit it out. After that, he figured out where to carry it and it became a non-issue. During that time, she worked with him on more groundwork and it was hard for him to focus on the bit when he had other things to think about.

Bit goes in.

Ony tries to spit it out.

He progressed quite rapidly and made it abundantly clear he remembered everything from his first lesson two weeks ago. She commented on how soft and responsive he was, and he did a great job paying attention even when other horses walked past (two weeks ago he whinnied and fussed when he saw other horses). She was soon jumping up and down at his sides and lightly kicking under his belly and at his flanks in order to assess how sensitive he was about being touched in those areas. The verdict? He didn't care.

Working with the saddle.

She placed the saddle on him several times and had him move around. Again, he's been ponied saddled before and that time seemed to pay off. Then my part began. She had me jump with my hands on either side of his saddle area from both sides. I leapt around like an idiot, and Onyx didn't seem to notice. Then she said she'd give me a leg up and have me drape over his back so she could have him move and get used to carrying a rider. This is where I started mentally kicking myself I'd spent so much time brushing out his mud clumps and coating him with show sheen while he was in the hospital. Oh well. The only reaction he had all day was when I was draped over his back and she asked him to move forward the first time. He seemed to think there wasn't any way he could walk with Mom on his back, and had kind of a slow, haltingly rough start. He caught on quickly, and I was able to do it from both sides in short order. During this time, I was keeping myself folded over his back by grabbing handfuls of winter coat in his girth and flank area, neither of which he seemed to mind terribly.

Just for fun. You can see he's holding the bit by this point.

Then we saddled him and cinched the saddle on. Again, no big deal. More jumping and kicking and another leg up to drape over his back. This time, my weight was thrown so far towards my legs poor Ony kept having to step waay under himself in order to keep from falling over, which elicited much giggling from both Lacy and I. Very shortly Lacy told me to put a foot in the stirrup and swing my leg up to rub his butt to see how he would react. Nothing. She suggested I just swing my leg completely over, and soon I was sitting astride my little Onyx. The feeling was exhilarating, to be sure. It all happened so fast I didn't have time to be nervous!!

She had him moving around in walking circles both directions. I had a good hold of his mane, but he felt incredibly solid beneath me. I think he was just happy I was balanced instead of hanging off his back like a deranged rock climber! She repeated all the ground work we'd been doing with me adding leg cues in order to reinforce her body language. He "got it" immediately and I quickly forgot he was a dorky three year old going through his first ride.

Then the unimaginable happened--Lacy handed me the lead rope and told me to do some one rein stops on each side, flipping the rope over his ears each time to switch sides. He did wonderfully, and then Lacy walked off with Ony following. Holy crap, I was riding my baby by myself at his second lesson!! When I'd ask him to whoa, I'd lift up the lead rope as she'd been doing from the ground, and little Ony set on the brakes. He didn't feel squirty or goosey or nervous or anything, and I responded by feeling quite confident (even though my heart was RACING from excitement and exhilaration!).

Finally, Lacy turned to me and said that was it for the day and that he'd done wonderfully. I agreed, but asked her to take a picture before I dismounted. She had been joking about taking off running across the arena to see what Ony would do, and did. He took a couple of short trot steps and when I asked him to whoa he impressed me by again putting on the brakes. Lacy was able to get a couple of dusty pictures and I asked her to hold him so I could dismount from the off side, since it's important for me to be able to mount and dismount from both sides on hilly terrain.

Once on the ground, I started shaking with excitement. I did a few celebratory leaps and fist pumps and gave little Ony a great big hug. I am still a bit in disbelief that the day I've been waiting for since September came and went so effortlessly. Little Ony is going to spend a whole month at the barn so Lacy can ride him more regularly. I miss the little guy already, but can't wait for us to start our journey down the trail together.