Riding the Wind -- INCOMPLETE

The Trail

I finished tacking her up, I made sure to put on the saddle pad with the pockets for water, food, and first aid (For Squirrel, not me). I then got on, I was surprised she didn't try anything.. Yet.. She seemed, calmer but I couldn't shake the feeling that she still didn't trust me.

I had told my parents that I'd be gone for the day on Squirrel. Of course, they just laughed at the name but I didn't care because they still gave me the okay.

~.~

As we walked to the beautiful, open, yellow meadow. This meadow was the only place I've ever felt completely relaxed at. I train all my horses, or other people horses, here.

"This is the place I'm going to train you, Squirrel." I said as I patted her shoulder.

She looked a little confused at first but then she relaxed. I got off and spread my blanket out for when I sit down to eat lunch. Once the blanket was spread out, I took some stuff out of the pockets on the sides of the my saddle pad and placed the food down. When I turned back to Squirrel, she had a confused look on her face. I chuckled then got back on her.

First, we worked on trotting.

I squeezed my legs together lightly then she started trotting. Her pace was perfect, though I could tell she was a little antsy because she'd never been here before. I started moving my body up and down, up, down, posting as lightly as a feather falls. She did pretty well at this. I picked my back up from strings in the air then told her to halt, slightly pulling back my reins. She put an ear back and one forward, this is horse language for they're listening.

Secondly, we worked on cantering.

I squeezing my legs together, started at a trot. I squeezed my legs harder, pushing her into a canter. She took off, I had to hold on for dear life! When I looked up, I saw her ears straight forward, she was enjoying this! I chuckled then pulled the reins lightly in a pattern. Tug, wait, Tug, wait, Tug. This went on for a little while until we found a perfect paced canter.

Thirdly, we worked on galloping.

I patted her shoulder smiling big and bright. I squeezed her hard she definitely knew what that meant! She took off, ears pinned forward. We galloped so fast, I decided to take my special trail. We galloped one more time around the meadow when I turned the left rein, telling her to track left.

We galloped over hills and through the creek. I remembered that it took me 1 hour to walk this trail by foot and I was already at half point! I egged her on by squeezing her more, she went faster and faster until I felt like I was flying.

I slowly lifted out of two-point and dropped my reins, freeing my hands. I've never felt so alive and carless in my life!