A Lesson and a Ride!

Rachel and I both got to ride today. Taking a dear friend's (Thanks Lisa) suggestion I have decided I am going to start giving Rachel riding lessons. I wasn't sure how it was going to go but decided to try it. It went very well. Navajo, ever being able to adapt to one rider to the next, did wonderfully. I was not really surprised =) Rachel did quite well. Ok so most of you know she is 5 turning in August. Well we started off with me leading her around on Navajo in a circle. I had Navajo in the bridle so that she could get the idea of holding the reins in her hands. I got Navajo to follow me around (which he does anyway) with Rachel riding. We walked around the top of the barn hill behind the bank barn and down the banks and did turns and such to get Rachel to figure out how to turn him and such. They both did wonderfully with that.

Then I decided ok want her to feel like she is riding on her own so I went into the barn and got her to walk around in circles out front. The reason I went into the barn is because I need to figure something out so he listens on her and doesn't follow me around =D She did well with that. Navajo kept wanting to stop but I told Rachel jsut to kick him to tell him to go. He did. So then I said ok now it is my turn to ride =)

I hopped on Navajo and headed toward the strip. I didn't need to worry about warming up because he had been going at a constant walk for at least a good half hour to 45 minutes (I didn't wear my watch so I am not sure exactly how long of a ride Rachel had =). So we headed down the strip. He didn't want to go at first but he went. We walked most of the way down and I asked for a trot and then we turned the corner and I asked for a canter =) We did a lot of trotting and cantering down along the road on the strip. Once I figured we had enough I headed toward home. Most of the way home I turned him around to head a little ways down the strip. He didn't like this but after some balking he did go =) We just went to the second telephone pole down then I turned him around. I got home and I groomed him good. I also praised him for doing so well with Rachel then adapting to me and doing good for me too! I am so pleased! I did ride bareback though. My plan had been to ride with the saddle and do groundwork but then my plan changed when I decided to start giving Rachel riding lessons. So I guess we shall see how things progress from here.