Midnight

Today I visited Shenandoah Farms at Rolling Hill and found a horse to lease. The horse is black and appropriately named Midnight. He is very gentle and calm which is reassuring and comforting to me. I have also never ridden a horse that is so responsive as this one. He can turn on a dime, and to get him to change gates I barely have to move my feet. He also kept his ears back, which means he is paying attention to me the rider, the entire time I rode him. I rode him in the ring to get a feel for his personality and character. For example he does not spook easy as some horses do and he is somewhat stubborn, but easily gives when asked to do something repeatedly.
I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to ride almost everyday and to have a horse that is so responsive.

I also learned that I have a saddle, bridle, reins and blankets that are mine for the entire month. I will also be the only person riding Midnight which comforts me to know that no one else will possibly be using different or confusing techniques while riding him.

There was a moment today when both Midnight and I fell in sync with one another. It was 5 seconds of a perfect trot with horse and rider communicating perfectly. To those of you who do not ride horses, the trot while a slower pace is difficult to accomplish properly. It is the rockiest and bumpiest pace that a horse goes through. The hardest part of the trot is finding the rhythm of the horse. I have continued reading the book Centered Riding by Sally Swift. It describes in detail how to maintain rhythm and balance while in a trot and walk. You should keep your hips, knees and ankles loose and move with the horse. This is very hard to describe to someone who has never ridden a horse, because this is not as simple as it sounds.

Something that I did understand was a major part of communication with the horse is your hands. You must keep your hands soft but responsive. Too much tugging and pulling at a horses mouth will make them less responsive and confuse them, this is not the way to achieve good communication with a horse. If you ask a horse to move in a certain direction by pulling on the reins, the moment they give in to your request the pressure on their mouth should stop. A reward to a horse is releasing pressure. So if you tug on the reins and do not release as soon as the horse obeys your request, you confuse them.
Some of you might believe this is a stretch but I can apply this to communication with my fellow peers. An example of this would be asking the same person to cover for you at work repeatedly. You ask them to do a favor once and they do it. But when you repeatedly ask them to do the same favor and do nothing in return they may feel used and stop responding to your requests to cover for you at work. A horse may feel the same way. " you keep pulling on me and I turn in that direction but you still keep pulling, what am I doing wrong?".

This book has also taught me that transitions from one gait to another are very important. The transition should be smooth and the rider should stay with the forward motion of the horse. Again, this sounds easy but unless you are an experienced rider it can still be difficult. To get a horse to change gaits is simple yes, but to get a horse to change gaits smoothly with a human on its back, very difficult.

The book centered riding also emphasizes how important the canter is as well. Balance and rhythm are also very important with the third gait the canter. 'Forces of Energy' are also mentioned. This is a somewhat difficult concept for me to completely grasp. You are supposed to use the force of energy in the horse flow through you to allow you to find the rhythm of the gait in which the horse is in.

Tomorrow should be another exciting day with Midnight and for expanding my knowledge.