The last two Saturdays, I’ve had the opportunity to go riding with the Homestead girls. Broken Wing Ranch ministries is letting the girls and volunteers ride with them, horse therapy. God knows I need all the therapy I can get. We only have two girls right now at Homestead and only one of them really likes to ride, so we all get to benefit.
Last Saturday, Donna, Kortney, Dacia and I rode. Kourtney and Dacia went on the trail ride while Donna and I pet the other horses and waited. It is lovely out there so we enjoyed ourselves. The other horses enjoyed the attention, too.
The last half hour, Donna and I rode. I was disappointed in myself that I had to use the steps to get up there. I rode BuckEye. The second I got in the saddle, my anxiety kicked in. Karen, the ranch owner, said he could feel every bit of anxiety in me. Therefore, he didn’t trust me. Thanks, Buck Eye, not helpful. He tolerated riding me around the arena even though it was muddy and he had to put in a lot of effort. As I calmed down, he started following my leads more. We went around the outside of the arena in circles and then stayed to the inside when Donna and the helper gal started trotting around the outside path. So Karen pushed me outside my comfort zone and made me direct Buckeye to go in circles and then back up. It made me anxious again. I finally said I was done so she let me get off of him.
Yesterday, I had planned to go and just pet the horses and hang out again, then decided not to go til later as we were going to go to a bonfire after. Alicia called and said Karen wanted me out there and I would be riding. So I went. I love the drive out there anyway. I had the windows down and sang Chris Stapleton at the top of my lungs. Its a beautiful drive, highway 57.
I got up on ol’ Buckeye the second I got there. I had pet him a couple of times before I got on and he turned his head away from me. Sorry, buddy, I’m not your favorite rider. As soon as I got on, we headed out for the trail ride. I just took charge and he followed my lead.
The first part of the ride, I nervous chattered with Karen tons. I hope she recognized that’s what it was. Alicia and Kortney were on the other horses. They were quiet from a full day of cleaning rentals for a friend. Buckeye and I did fine. The trail was beautiful, out through the prairie then through the woods. I calmed down greatly until Karen said we were headed for hills and that Buckeye tended to stumble. She said I needed to lean back in the saddle and hold the reins back so he wouldn’t try to trot downhill. That was a little nerve wracking as we then went up and down many hills across creeks and gullies. I got used to that and then Buckeye decided he was hungry and kept stopping to eat grass and take bites out of tree limbs. I wasn’t supposed to let him do that but the stinker kept doing it anyway. Then he got the bright idea he would trot. He tried repeatedly even though I did all the right things to make him stop. He tried everything he could to take advantage of my inexperience.
I enjoyed the ride even with the anxiety. My legs did get sore in weird places because the stirrups weren’t fit perfectly since I’m so short. But overall, I was very glad I went and glad I pushed out of my comfort zone.
Afterwards, we drove further down highway 57 the other direction, through Grandview plaza to intern Jamie’s house on old highway 40. She and her husband had a bonfire going and we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for s’mores over the fire. It was a lot of fun. Jamie and her family are a blessing.
dianegclark 