Corners

Last weekend I had a great ride with Pip. We ride with two other people, one of whom is not the most attentive of other riders. He’s great, his horse, Bailey, is not the least bit spooky (which is nice when you’re in the woods), but I was nervous about riding with him because of his propensity to just take off without warning, he assumes that the rest of the group is ready, willing and keen to gallop through the trees.

Which up until very recently, I have not been so much with Pip. Pip is a very handy horse, which means he can corner, dodge and scare the hell out of me going through trees. He has also, on occasion, taken a short cut off a 20 foot high ditch bank to get to a water crossing. It’s nice knowing that he’s smart enough to recognize the crossing and assume that we are going to go there. It’s also nice to know he’s really sure-footed even when he’s leaping down a 45 degree bank of loose dirt. It’s very disconcerting to have him make decisions like that with no input from me.



That’s what made this weekend such a very nice one. We didn’t have any of those things happen. We galloped, jumped, dodged and just sat around all without me freaking out and feeling as though I was on the brink of riding a rogue horse. At no time did I think that Pip would not listen. Now, that’s not to say he was perfect in everyway and suddenly a dead broke horse. Au contraire, mon Amis. He still took off after Bailey, tried to go where we weren’t going and fussed, but I was able to keep or regain his attention and compliance. It was really great.