Sam came along for this visit to make sure I didn't die, even though I assured him I wouldn't. As soon as Gobie saw me he came up to the fence, ready to work. We started things off low key with some grooming.
Feels pretty good, right?
He was rather muddy, but it was at least dry muddy. I had a leadrope on him, and some rope reins. The sky was looking kinda cloudy and ominous, but it was rather warm for almost January.
Hamming it up for Sam.
We first did a couple of exercises: lounging so I could gauge whether or not he was feeling particularly energetic, and then some yielding exercises to see how well he was willing to listen. He was a pro at everything, so I was encouraged.
I'm really glad we have such a great rapport, this pony and I. With all the paling around we do, I think we're both able to get a really good read on each other. That's important, especially when it comes to trust. When it comes to doing new things having a history of being well-meaning buddies buys you a lot of leeway.
All the same, I was pretty cautious about this next step. I've been a little worried that I would be too big for the pony--height and weight wise--and I didn't want to jump on and injure him. I realize this is kind of silly--smaller, stocky horses have carried full grown men around, after all. But I didn't want to lose some of the goodwill between us by doing this part wrong. So, as we were by the fence for grooming I started messing around a little bit: standing on cinder blocks, leaning over his back, giving his topline a good rub, and stretching my leg over his back.
We're both like, "I don't think this is how it's supposed to work."
Gobie of course took all of this weird stuff in stride, so it was time to make an actual effort to sit on him. I think he was starting to get a good idea of what was going on.
Sticking his tongue out, his opinion on the matter?
There's a mounting block in the work area, so I dragged it on over. I had planned to get Sam to hold the lead rope while I had the rope reins, but I ended up using both. Gobie was little worried about the mounting block, but after he let out a sigh and got a treat all was well.
Approaching the mounting block.
Getting him into position...
For a horse it's weird to have a person towering over you, so even Gobie being relaxed about that was great. It's a sort of survival mechanism for horses to be leery of having something over you--think of a cougar jumping down on you from a ledge, or a lion jumping on the back of a wildebeest. It's pretty amazing that horses learned to carry humans at all!
It's not uncommon for a horse to want to move away after you've lined them up to the mounting block for this reason. You don't want them to do that, of course, because having one foot in the stirrup while the horse is moving is a good way to twist (or break!) an ankle. But Gobie didn't do any of that here. Back at the fence line he did try moving away when I was leaning and patting on him, but I turn him around at attention, and that got the message across that he shouldn't be moving away.
Back at the mounting block, standing nicely, I gave him a treat and...
Getting ready...
First leg over...
Easing on to his back...
Finally on!
What an attractive pair, right? He stood so patiently and attentively--his ears pricked in my direction waiting to hear what I wanted him to do. To be fair, I only had my full weight on his back for a moment but keeping it short and positive was important to me. I hopped off (beaming!)
We did it!
Looking at the pictures afterward I'm happy that we don't look too mismatched for each other. That is to say, I don't look too big on him or anything. My feet aren't comically dragging on the ground and his back doesn't look swayed and over burdened. We look like we could go for a brisk trot in the woods, or over some misty highlands.
We didn't do that, though. Instead I got Gobie a treat from the feed room.
Being nosy.
After a job well done, a little bit of black oil sunflower seeds, and multivitamin was well deserved.
om nom nom!
I let him back with this pals in the paddock, but he was still hanging around the fence line for us as we were getting ready to go. So I gave him one more treat.
Such a great way to ring in the New Year! I don't expect us to be riding off into the sunset any time soon, but I am looking forward to what lies a head of us. Like getting my hands on a saddle!
Regardless of what the future holds, I'm really pleased and proud to have such a great horse.
awesome story...can't wait to see the sunset ride!
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