Back in the saddle again…

This afternoon I did it. I quite literally got back on the horse. Not actually “the one that threw me” but definitely a horse. After a frightening experience in August while trail riding in Temecula (see my earlier post), I still felt drawn back to being around horses.

It’s really weird. It’s almost as though in another life I had something to do with horses. There’s never been anything in my real life to bring me into contact with them except a strange combination of fascination, fear, curiosity, and absolute awe of how beautiful and magnificent they are.

So despite my unsettling experience in early August, later that month when I saw that the City of Irvine was offering a four-session “Basic Horsemanship” course for only $60.00, I immediately signed up. I visited the website of the stables where the classes were to be held and got a good feeling about it, which was confirmed when I attended my first class this afternoon.

In order to prepare for the class and to avoid some of the horrible bruising I ended up with after the Temecula incident, I went this morning to El Toro Tack and Feed in Lake Forest. I knew I needed two things: first, pants that, unlike regular bluejeans, would not cut me in half and leave me bruised in places it would be far too indelicate to talk about and second, a pair of riding boots, so that my feet would never again get stuck in the stirrups.

The El Toro Tack store itself exudes character. A pretty parrot in the main sales room is in a cage that bears a “Free Body Piercing” sign, that I thought was funny. The store has EVERYTHING for horses and riding. The staff were extremely helpful and I came away with a pair of very comfortable, stretchy Devon-Aire riding breeches and zip-front paddock boots for a total of around $100.00, which I thought was quite reasonable. Paddock boots come up just past the ankle, whereas dress riding boots–the ones that come up to the knee–are more expensive. In fact, you can easily find yourself paying over $500.00 for a pair of dress boots. That’s way too pricey for me; I have to determine whether I’m serious about this whole horse thing or not!

The classes I’m attending are at the Rancho del Rio stables in Anaheim, an establishment that’s been in business for about 40 years. In amazing contrast to the trail riding outfit in Temecula, the Rancho del Rio people really do put safety first. There were about 15 of us in the class, and before class got started, each of us was checked for appropriate footwear and for a safety helmet. Our teacher, Rick, was knowledgeable, entertaining and patient. Another teacher joined in after a while–I didn’t catch her name–because our class was so large, and she too, really knew horses, was funny, and was there to teach. The staff at this stable are certainly not about taking your money for exercising their horses, which is the feeling I’ve had about some of the novice riding classes I’ve attended in the past. At Rancho del Rio, they clearly give the impression that they want to pass along to you how rewarding being around horses can be; in fact the class is called “Fun with Horses” and it lives up to its name.

What we did in our first session was very basic stuff, but things that you have to know how to do if you are going to ride. First we went to the stalls and Rick selected Luke, a beautiful grey horse that was to be used for our lesson. Rick  showed us the correct way to put the bridle and lead rope on the horse, then walked him down to a hitching post in an open area. He showed us how to tie up the lead rope to the hitch; how to groom the horse before riding with curry and dandy brushes and explained about the kick-zone and how to avoid startling the horse. Each time Rick showed us how to do something, he then had each of us do it in turn. While this might sound boring, it really wasn’t because either the student or the horse would do something that the rest of us could learn from.

Then we got to the part that I’d kind of been dreading. Rick showed us how to use a pick to clean the horse’s hooves. This is something I’ve always been very nervous about. Not so much the front feet, but the back feet give me the willies. So imagine my delight when Rick said that at Rancho del Rio, they don’t have students clean the back hooves until they are in individual training sessions and have one-on-one time with the teacher. This was so sensible, and it reinforced for me the fact that this place believes in safety first.

After grooming came tacking up: how to put on the saddle pad, saddle and girth. Then each of the students got to lead a horse around the arena a little. The other teacher brought in a second horse called Rocky, and talked about how that horse had had some behavioral issues that they’d had to address. One of them was biting. She mentioned that when you lead a horse, the horse is looking to you to be the Alpha, the leader, and that if you abdicate that role, the horse will take it and may start to exhibit bad habits. (I was surprised to hear that, because it’s just what Cesar Millan says about dogs. You HAVE TO be the Alpha, or you’ll be dominated by your dog(s). I have no problem being the Alpha with my dogs.) She demonstrated how to let the horse know you’re in charge when you lead them, and what to do if they start getting “mouthy” near your hands.

The teacher suggested that, for the leading exercise, people with previous horse experience should lead Rocky, and those students whom she described as “more timid” should lead Luke. No prizes for guessing which horse I lead… Luke! After Temecula, I have to build up my confidence again, but these nice folks at Rancho del Rio have absolutely no problem with that. What a blessing! (If you’re in the same boat as me, you might want to take a look at this article , which is about timidity after a horse “incident.”)

The next thing we each had to do was to mount a horse. We were shown the correct way to mount using a little portable mounting block. The horse they used for this was a big chestnut named Bear. Apparently he got his name partly because of his size–he’s at least 16 hands high and is a jumper–and partly because he has such a teddy-bear sweet personality. He stands completely still when asked, and patiently endured all of us clamboring up onto and off of his back. Nice horse!

Last of all, one of the students led Luke back around to the hitching post and Rick showed us how to remove the saddle and pad. We were invited to grab a dandy brush and dust Luke off a bit after class if we wanted to hang around for a while (which I did, so I got to clean some of the arena dust off of him before the head honcho, Cheryl, came and led him away for his food).

So that was my class. It was incredibly hot this afternoon (my car thermometer said 90 degrees) so what we did was dusty and sweaty and thirsty. But I truly enjoyed it and am looking forward to my class next Saturday. Apparently, next Saturday we’ll get up on horseback and learn to get the horse to walk using only our legs. I’ll let you know how it turns out…