Blog Hop: 10 Questions for November

As always, the 10 questions each month from L. Williams is one of my favorite posts to write! Especially when I have literally nothing going on. Except maybe stress shopping. I have been doing some of that....

How old is the youngest/greenest horse you’ve ridden?
Both of my current horses were lightly backed at three. I'm the only person who has ever been on Cinna, so she would be the greenest.

How old is the oldest horse you’ve ridden?
While I believe Jack and Trigger are both in their 20s, Jack is a year older. He's... 22 maybe? Gosh, I'd have to dig out his papers. I've probably sat on the occasional horse older than that, but none are coming to mind.

Doorway shot, just for Emma!

Were you scared of horses when you first started riding?
I've never been scared of horses. There have been situations where I might have been scared of a particular horse or their actions, but not of horses in general.

Would you say you’re a more nervous rider or a confident rider?
Definitely a confident rider -- although obviously that is not synonymous with good! Haha. I'm the kind of person that will get on a totally strange horse and take it out on a trail ride, even if I have no idea if it's ever been on a trail... lol. Not necessarily smart, but confident, yes!

Doga... it's like yoga, but for dogs.

Biggest pet peeve about non-horse people around horses?
This is more a trail pet peeve (since that's the place I seem to run into the most non-horse people with my horses) -- about half the people are respectful and yield right of way, but the other half (usually on bicycles) will come blowing past and terrify the horses. Especially the hardcore "road warrior" types all decked out in Spandex and weird shaped helmets. I'm sure they look like aliens to the horses! Or people who let their dogs come into my horse's personal space.... ugh.

A time you’ve been scared for your life?
There have been a handful of times where the horse I was on wasn't listening to ANY cues, and feeling that helpless on top of a 1000 lb animal can be terrifying. Mostly with Jack, but had a brief brush with it with Cinna last weekend before our successful trail ride. Jack used to get worked up into these like blind rages and he would be completely unaware of what was around him -- bailing off of him was usually the safest option at that point. Luckily he mostly grew out of them (and I also stopped pushing him, because now he's basically a retired trail horse).

How much is that weenie in the window?

Have you ever fallen off at show? What happened?
I've actually not fallen off that many times in the grand scheme of my riding career, and I don't recall any of them being at shows! *knock on wood*

What’s a breed of horse you’ve never ridden but would like to ride?
Lusitano! I love my Andalusians, but I hear Lusos are pretty fun too.

I'll take one of these, please and thank you!

Describe the worst behaved horse you’ve ridden?
When I got Jack, he only had two behaviors under saddle: standing straight up on his hind legs, or racing backwards. He was also a total asshole in hand (you had to walk him with a chain and a whip to keep him off you). In several of the rearing episodes, he almost flipped over on me (once he did flip but I jumped off and didn't get smashed). Luckily those behaviors have been mostly eradicated. Mostly.

The most frustrating ride you’ve ever had? 
Basically any ride where I end up feeling inept (so probably 50% of them, lol). Training young horses makes me feel useless on a regular basis.