Preparing to ride Dalton while Gillian is gone!

Dalton is with Thru-Rider, Gillian Larson. She is teaching him the way of the trail. The long trail! But first, he has to learn basic horse things like … collection, side passing, canter leads… you know.

He is with her, learning that.

As he learns his things, I am learning mine. The first is to ride a horse that I didn’t raise (I’m amazed at how different it is when I haven’t known the horse since he was born), and how to ride a horse who isn’t a Morgan and doesn’t move like a Morgan. I really never put it all together, but I’ve raised all of my rising horses from birth or a very young age, and all of them have been high headed Morgans or… Finn. It is surprising to me how narrow I am in my riding comfort zone because I like to ride horses who go the way I like to go.

Dalton is the first riding horse that I acquired as an adult (age 4 or 5, we aren’t sure…) Dalton is a very good Mustang and has nice gaits… but he is different than a Morgan.

So, today we started in the arena. I watched how he responded to Gillian and noted how well he did, what made him fuss and what he had learned.

Then it was my turn.

I learned that Dalton is an even better boy than I already knew he was. He really tries and learns fairly quickly. My boy has made huge strides with Gillian!

Next we went out around her her property and her neighborhood to show me trails to take while she goes on her 5 week outing with her horses starting July 30.

I’m kindof excited to have Dalton all to myself in a place that is perfect for learning about each other on lovely shaded trails…