Paso Ride with Daniel and Larry

Monday, Daniel called to invite me for a ride. I love to ride with Daniel. He likes to largo meaning we can go fast sometimes. I had a date earlier to visit with my friend Mary, who is also my coach. I met her at school and she loaned me some Natural Horsemanship materials. We talked about strategies for my work with Del and my mounting issues. At the heart of this philosophy is Language, Love and Leadership in equal amounts. When I went out to ride, I followed her advice and worked with Del in the round pen after I saddled him up. I also followed Mary's advice about my body language when I sent him out to circle. I believe I noticed a positive difference in his behavior. If he decided to come in before I asked him to, I petted him and sent him back out. Then, I tried mounting him from the block. He did fine. When Daniel was ready to ride he offered to try mounting Del from the ground and was successful. Then, it was my turn and he stood for me without much trouble. It is amazing how we take things for granted. I feel Del and I have been making real progress. However, I know we have only begun.

Daniel is tightening Tiena's girth at the top of the hill overlooking the Ramona Grasslands.

Larry came with us to the lake. He rode Telma but the saddle was too small, so Daniel had him ride Tiena.

 
As you can see, Larry has long legs and he rides his stirrups long as well. He just bought a beautiful Thoroughbred that is in training. He will be learning to ride trail soon.

We rode to the lake on the Ramona Grasslands, one of my favorite rides.  There was a herd of cattle near the lake and Del was very interested in them. They are a little hard to see here but the camera is set on wide angle. I was trying to pose us for a photo but Del just didn't want to stand still, or put his back to them.

At last, Delgado stood long enough for Daniel to take our photograph.

Daniel and Telma

On the way home from the lake when we were riding through the chaparral, my rein came untied. Del was pulling a lot on this ride. In other words, he wanted to go faster than everyone else. He likes the lead and when he has to follow I must work at keeping a space between the horse ahead. When the rein came loose we were on a steep hill and negotiating through Laurel Sumac that had burned in the fires a few years ago. What is left is a combination of new growth and burnt branches that are quite hard.

This is not the exact place. No photos, I was too busy.

As I tried to stop Del with one rein, he thought I was trying to turn him. We went crashing off the trail into the chaparrel.  I tried to get him to follow Daniel and Telma who were in the lead until we could reach flat ground. It must have been quite a sight. Larry called it a rodeo! Jumping and rearing, we broke branches but finally made it to safe ground without any harm. I dismounted, retied the rein, mounted (he stood perfectly still) and we continued the rest of the ride. I was so glad Del was not hurt! Needless to say, I have decided to permanently fix the reins.  Coincidentally, one of the articles Mary wanted me to read is on giving your horse more responsibility on the trail (in other words, a loose rein where the horse in not micro-managed at every step).  That means I need to practice more Natural Horsemanship techniques.