Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I rode Libby!

Yesterday I told, on my Blogger journal, about saddling Libby and mounting her.

I put my foot in the stirrup and got on; she stood still as a statue.  Amazing!

I dismounted; she stood still as a statue.

I got back on, she still stood quietly.

I clucked to her to go forward; she stood still as a statue. 

I couldn't figure any way to get her to go forward without risking injury to myself.  (One horse landing atop me is quite enough in one lifetime).  If Cliff or Arick had been around, I'd have had them direct her forward with the wand or whip, or perhaps lead her.  But I was alone.

There are knowledgeable horse people who read both my journals.  Two of them suggested I use a halter or bosal with Libby, instead of a bridle, at least to start with.  In other words, no bit.

So I did what Arick did on his first ride on Libby:  I made reins out of her lead rope and used her halter instead of a bridle. 



Then I got on.  She continued to stand perfectly still while I got on.  By the way, I don't have to use my mounting bucket with Libby, since she's much shorter than Blue.

Eventually, by turning her one way and another, I got her walking around the pen.  I only had one slight scare:  the two calves were outside the round pen, right up against it, grazing.  They were out of sight unless they tossed their heads up chasing flies, or switched their tails high.  Well, Libby saw that movement once and it rather spooked her.  I had to spin her in several circles, but finally she settled down and I rode her some more, here and there in the pen.  I kept only the toe of my left boot in the stirrup, so if necessary I could make a fast getaway.  Thankfully, all went well.

So I can now officially say that I rode Libby, even though the ride lasted no more than ten minutes.  I have no witnesses (unless the renter was looking out her window), so I took a picture while I was in the saddle.  You've seen many pictures here that included Blue's ears.  I now introduce you to Libby's ears!


22 comments:

Anonymous said...

YAY!!!  What a beautiful horse she is!!
Lisa

Anonymous said...

Oh Wow !  Now you've 2  horses to ride.  She is such a good girl.  Not complaining about the ride is wonderful.  She's off to a good start for sure !  'On Ya' - ma

Anonymous said...

Ahh, a great story.   Yay Libby and Yay Donna !!!!!   You accomplished a 'first'!   I hope it's cooling down there by now so all of your outside activities are more comfortable for you.   Still too hot in CT for my liking, mid to upper 80's.   Judy

Anonymous said...

She is going to make a great horse for you. If you rode her for 10 minutes you did good. A big hand to both of you. Helen

Anonymous said...

That is awesome that you got to ride Libby, glad she did so well for you. I was watching RFDTV the other day this past weekend and was watching the two hour horse shows...one was on a four year old that had never been saddled or ridden, and had never had a bath. It was amazing to watch the man work with him, it was like magic, he just knew and the horse just knew.

Anonymous said...

Why, hello, Libby's ears.  Nice to meet'cha.
Congratulations!
Lori

Anonymous said...

Hi Libbys ears!!!! Nice to meetcha! :)
Congrats on your first ride. {{}}
Sugar

Anonymous said...

What a great start for you and Libby. I wonder if she stood so still 'cause she sees you saddle up Blue and watches what he does. She's so pretty!
Pam

Anonymous said...

That was a great start, she's such a pretty girl.Vicki

Anonymous said...

And beautiful ears at that.  Congrats - you both made it.

XXOO

Anonymous said...

She is going to be a good girl!  I don't blame you for being cautious!
Traci

Anonymous said...

Oh we are so proud of Libby....and getting to see her "grow" up so to speak....and I know you were one happy "rider" when she let you sit on her...but I do wish you had waited until Cliff or Arick were around....oh I know...you can handle it...but what if???? oh well you didn't and all is well...LOL...and about Cliff in the previous journal....my hubby does the same thing...wanders around whatever he is working on...giving it a good once over...plotting and planning...LOL..aren't they a sight to watch LOL...hugs to ya...Ora

Anonymous said...

Hooray for you and Libby!  

Anonymous said...

Awwww ... Libby is so pretty and I like her ears too :) Congratulations on your first ride !! You just be careful now and enjoy the ride . Blessings.

Jctopaz55

Anonymous said...

She is a pretty gal and I can just see her standing stock still while you mounted.  What a good girl.

Anonymous said...

Woo Hoo!! Way to go! Although I would have been happier knowing someone was nearby. Having said that.... I often do things like that while alone. The timing is perfect and you just know that it is the time to do it, and there just isn't always someone around when you need them to be.<LOL> As long as you are in the round pen, that rig you have with the halter is just fine. Heck, I STILL ride Boo in either his bosal or a halter about half the time!

Libby is growing into a quite well-mannered little girl, and I know she is sweet, but you have to take most of the credit. Spending all that time messing with her before saddling makes the transition to being ridden sooo much easier. I look forward to seeing many more Libby 'ear pictures'!!

Anonymous said...

Yippeee........she is learning and you are a good teacher.   Anne

Anonymous said...

Excellent job!

Anonymous said...

mounting bucket; MOUN-ting BUCK-it; noun  Formerly a container used to hold items (i.e. water, feed, kittens) now, when turned upside down and placed on the ground next to an equine, allows short persons to increase their rather limited stature and give them allowance to lift a leg over a stationary horse to put their butt on the saddle attached to said horse.  Can also be used to procure items from the top shelf in kitchens or allow miniature person to get into large sided bathtubs.  

Anonymous said...

And beautiful ears she does have.  Looking forward to seeing much much more of Libby from this angle.

Anonymous said...

   My horses just about never had a bit ... just a mechanical hackamore. They did a lot of work on the lunge line, so as to learn (with help from the buggy whip) to go/MOVE at the click of a tongue ... MOVE WHATEVER DIRECTION WAS ASKED FOR: FORWARD, BACK, SIDEWAYS ... BUT, MOVE ... N O W !  The next most important command was whoa ... again ... like absolutely N O W !
   Maybe Libby feels that your weight is not a solid lump, like the saddle ... & lunging with a large, somewhat floppy sack of something heavy that can shift would help.
   Whenever possible ... I would have another horse for the new horse to follow ... it is more natural ... & Libby would have something to distract her & give her confidence instead of concentrating upon this new situation.  If you are alone, you could just lead her from the other horse after Libby has had plenty of lunging in the round pen.
   As you noted ... gently pulling her head to the side ... enough to maybe have her take a step to keep her balance will get her un-tracked, & again, give her something else to think about.  Then, a step or two the other direction.   LOTS OF PRAISE & TREATS!  For pulling to the side, you could add a rein to pull on that is NOT the rein that will tighten up the mechanical hackamore.
LOIS

Anonymous said...

You are doing a fantastic job!!!!