Saturday surprise

Although I'd told most of my friends that I'd gotten a horse, I was keeping it a surprise for two very horse-crazy friends, until I was more familiar with Jester and could get them to come over for a visit. They came on Saturday (sadly a VERY warm day) and we had lunch and then headed "around the corner" to where they thought we were going to do some yard work. The carrots I should have put in the car before they came (though they would have been very floppy by then) tipped them off that there would be horses where we were going. They were excited at getting to fawn over pretty horses while working. :)

When we got there, I told them that we were actually there to meet my new horse, and then they were VERY excited. After they signed the waiver, we headed out to get him. Jester doesn't catch well at the moment - he needs a while to look at me and maybe play a little game before I catch him. I'm trying to keep it fun for him, but I think he'd rather stand around in his shed than work with me. He follows me around his paddock if I'm picking up rocks, or just not holding a halter, but he knows what a halter is for.

Jester was much better behaved today as far as standing still, but then again I had more hands at the ready. Bekah was able to pick out his feet without too much trouble and we had him all brushed and pretty in no time. I think he did like all the attention and kisses.

We tacked up and Bekah went first, knee brace and all. We walked a bit and she got a feel for him. She rode him around, doing a little trotting (and a few inadvertent canter steps the first time). It was tricky with her knee brace as that limits the use of your legs and changes the feel of what you can do.

After Bekah, Grace had a go of it. She hasn't done nearly as much with horses as Bekah has so she wanted to learn how to post to the trot. We walked around the arena, working on steering and balance before we even started talking about posting. I had her practice posting at the walk first, and using her hips in rhythm with the horse's movement to keep him going. Then we put the halter on him and I led them through some trots so she could practice posting. She got much more comfortable doing it than she had been previously, and of course had a ball being on a horse.

When she was done, the girls wanted to see me ride, something I hadn't come dressed for, in shorts. However I obliged them and though the sweaty skin on leather was sticky, it did give some extra grip to the saddle and I was glad I did it. My posting trot was much more comfortable and I managed to sit the trot very comfortably.

Jester was a little more stubborn afterward and he wasn't playing along with checking his feet. He got a mini-bath - need to get a large sponge - to clean out the sweat and then went back to his paddock with the rest of the carrots.