Te

Te. My project horse. Am I ready? She has challenged me to grow into a better rider. Every horse is different, this I understood. I am not particularly confident in my riding skills. I want to ride well. I read everything I can that is recommended to me by my instructor. I watch and listen and learn. I ride a lot. Cha Cha was challenging in that she was fast, at every speed. But totally sane and broke. No rear, no buck, no stupid stuff. She might spook to the side if totally taken by suprise, but she has never run off with a rider. Te seemed like an easy first project. Started correctly by someone I trust. A red quarter horse. How difficult could she be? Halter bred on her sire's side, tempered by foundation lines from her dam. Cute, cute, cute, and only 14'1. Really, how difficult could this be?

From the first, I would be asked to grow as a rider. Started by a professional, Te had no experience with someone who didn't have perfect balance. She would just stop if I lost my balance. She didn't like leg contact. I had a hard time keeping her on the rail. We worked at this for weeks, and then her first injury of many would stop all progress for almost a year.

I have had Te back from her rehab and retraining location for 6 weeks now. I feel like we are just getting started, again. Te was 5 years old in February. She needs more wet saddle pads. She ponies well off Jackie, and is riding quietly again. She hates heavy contact and pressure. The more contact and push I give her, the more tense she becomes and the less productive our ride. She is not forgiving, but resentful. I am learning to listen carefully to what she wants/needs.

Our Horses

Thanks to all in the horse community who encourage those of us living the horse dream. I grew up a horse crazy girl who's parents tried to give me what I wanted, but due to lack of good solid horse advice, bought me an unbroke 2 year old stud colt which of course, was a disaster pony who was sold a year later. I wasn't able to continue my horse dream until my own daughter told me at age 9 that she wanted to ride. In the 4 years since she first sat on top of her first lesson horse, we have shared many adventures together, mostly good, and this blog is a chronical of our continued journey down the trail.

My first horse, Cha Cha, is still my main and best ride. She is a 12 year old 1100 pound grade chestnut leopard Appaloosa. I get a different story from one of her former owners every time I talk to him, but I do know he used to run barrels and poles with her, but she wasn't fast enough for him. He also bred her and lost her colt to colic a year before I bought her. When I first acquired Cha Cha, she was a great trail horse, but when ever asked to canter, she wanted to run. She also had no brakes. To stop her I had to turn her in a circle. We have come a long way together in the 3 1/2 years I have owned her. I have learned how to ride, and she has learned how to whoa. While a former barrel horse with no brakes is usually not an ideal first horse, she is an extremely quiet and almost spook proof horse unless asked to go. Not a whole lot bothers this mare. My 10 year old would run barrels with her, and once her run was over, Cha Cha would just stand around quietly until it was her turn again. She still loves to run, but has learned how to canter and I am getting her slower and more balanced all the time.

Second addition to our herd was my daughter's horse, Jackie. Jackie just might be a perfect horse. We think she is around 16, a grade, red Quarter Horse cross. We like to pretend she is a Quarab, because she does have a beautiful head and high set tail, but with her long back, who knows what else is in her pedigree. What we do know is that she has positively blossomed in the past year as we have finally figured out her needs and she has shown us she has had a ton of training in her past which we are just tapping into. She has a western walk and jog to die for. Just a perfect slow and natural way of moving. It doesn't matter what the other horses are doing in the arena, or how hard the wind is blowing, Jackie just goes out and does her job. We found in our last lesson that if we pick up the reins and ask for an English headset, Jackie will lift her head in response and she also has a beautiful extended trot which just floats across the ground. She will also run the barrels and poles, doing perfect lead swaps, but really doesn't have the motor to win the ribbons. She has given my daughter all the confidence she lost after a series of accidents and scary moments.