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First Ride (long)



This is the story of my first ride on TWH Last Chance Comet, whom I met in
June 1999, has been living with me since December 1999, but whom I rode for
the very first time May 26, 2000. It is also my first ride since falling
from a horse and breaking my arm April 3, 1999, and all the angst that
resulted. I have a 60 foot round pen but no indoor or outdoor arena. Comet
is 6 years old, but green.

Friday, May 26 was my 42nd birthday. I had asked Comet's trainer, Carol
Hall, to come out for 2 hours to give me a lesson. It was to be my first
ride ever on Comet. I asked Carol to ride Comet first, since he hasn't been
ridden since November, when Carol rode him for about 30 minutes in my new
saddle to see if it fit him.

My turn. Up I went and Comet treated me like gold. He was so attentive to my
signals, so willing to do as I asked. He actually threw a little buck when
Carol rode, but didn't for me.

I felt his happiness that we were finally together in this way.


Comet and I went for a ride with Doug Stewart and Desiree (Doug's 9 year-old
Arabian mare) on Saturday the 27th.

Didn't lunge Comet. Tacked him up, walked out to the field we were going to
ride in, faced him toward the fence, Doug held him and the stirrip and up I
went.

We were out for about 1 1/2 hours and it was all new terrain for Comet. We
walked, trotted, paced, cantered, halted, backed, circled. Comet never
missed a step (well, he stumbled a couple of times). Just as the first time
I rode him he was attentive to me, willing to go, and interested in
everything around him. I was, again, so proud of him!

Desiree and Doug were, as always, excellent riding companions. Desiree was
protective of her personal space, but the couple of times we got too close,
she didn't try to kick or bite Comet. Doug was content to just walk.

I wore my emergency ID, told Doug about it. Told him, "We don't have to stop
at the house for my purse, just take me to the hospital." (I was riding with
Doug April 3, 1999 when I broke my arm.)

Comet surprised me once. He wanted to put his head down to scratch his face
on his leg. I thought it was a ploy to grab some grass, but I let him do it.
He scratched his face vigorously, but DIDN'T snatch any grass! Just brought
his head up and on we went. What a sweetie.

When we got home, Comet was a little damp under the blanket, and it was a
uniform dampness, no dry spots. He was by no means hot. But he did lose a
teeny bit of weight. I could feel the difference in putting my legs around
him from the time we started our ride and when we finished. And he did look
a teeny bit less round in the barrel. I'm sure it was just water weight. We
sure didn't work hard enough for any real loss.

Oh, yes. Comet saw a few things he thought he should think about, but he
just stopped to look. When he stopped to look at something, I let him look,
but asked him to move on after a few moments, probably less than 30 seconds.
He was always agreeable. Especially, of course, since Desiree was obviously
not worried about these things.

No riding Sunday. Needed a lot of sleep.

So, I had a fabulous two days of good weather and great riding on a great
horse!

I used to call Apache Dell the best horse in the world. Saturday when I let
Comet loose I told him for the first time that he was the best horse in the
world. (It's OK, since Apache is dead and is no longer in "the world"!)

I meant it.
--
T'Lara Joy Freedom - tfreedom@cadvision.com
Calgary, AB, Canada



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