The other day, after I finished riding Marve, the barn manager asked if I wanted to stay and exercise a schoolie who didn't have a rider for that day. Sure. It ended up being the Percheron gelding -- whoo hoo! I have never ridden him, since he's typically used for beginner lessons. But I always wanted to, because I love drafties and this Percheron in particular is adorable. Humongous, and adorable.
The ride was fun, but not easy. I now see why he's usually used in beginner lessons -- the boy is like a rock. A huge, massive, foot-as-big-as-dinner-platter rock. He was very steady and calm -- no Marve-like freakouts here! -- but also really hard to get moving. He gave me quite a battle to get in (and stay in) a trot, and even when I accomplished that, getting him into a working trot was a challenge. At first I didn't think I'd get him to canter at all, but the longer I rode him, the more he loosened up and felt willing to move.
So besides that issue, and the fact that he was super heavy on the forehand, I had a blast! I love, love, love his gaits. Smooth awesome trot I could sit to all day, huge rolling canter. So much fun. If he just moved a bit more and wasn't so lazy, I'd be swooning. And I loved the big, broad feel to him -- a nice change from tall skinny TB. I wish I could have ridden him bareback (my true passion from my teen years) because I bet he would have been super comfortable.
Anyway, it was fun, and brought to the surface again my love of draft horses and how one day I want to own a big broad feller of my own. Daun, you are lucky!!
Happy holidays, everyone. Give your horse an extra peppermint from me.
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4 comments:
We thought Tonka was a draft cross for a long time, but he turns out to be a standardbred. I suspect that all of my horses from herein with be standies -- they have that lovely breadth, but they are not so much work to ride.
We had a draft where I trained as a teenager. You knew our coach was right pissed with your riding if you drew her name for a lesson. It was a lot of work to keep that horse moving forward, but also very rewarding. Glad you had a fun ride.
mutfo: canine enemy #1
Don't be put off by the work required to ride the big ones-remember that was a 'lesson horse', rather dead to the legs of the beginners that ride him.
My Percheron mare was a ton of work to get going until I read Dauns post on Finding the Go Button. Very helpful. We went to work immediately, and blew everyone away on our next lesson.
http://eventing-draft.blogspot.com/2007/10/elaboration-on-go-button.html
We work daily on getting off the forehand..and she hasn't stumbled in weeks. A sign that it is working.
Thanks for the shout out, Mae! And Happy New Year! Where are you? We need an update???
:)
Thanks for the encouragement, Daun...your wish is my command!
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