169. My best ride ever...

Tonight i decided to walk Spice to a field about 15 minutes away from the yard and then hack her back (as it would be the first time in 6 months of hacking her out on my own) so i thought hacking her back would be a nice/easy transition. Luke, my partner gave me a leg up and filmed us from behind and as you can see from the video below she was absolutely amazing. It's a shame you can't hear my voice commands on the video as every time she stops she is responding to me asking her to via voice command and seat but because you can't hear me it kind of looks like she just stops. I was using my voice throughout the video saying 'and whoa' and 'walk on' and she was 100% responsive. I also tested her obedience quite a bit by turning her in circles (away from the direction of the yard) to see of she gave me any resistance and only 1 out of the 5 times i circled her did she attempt to protest but a quick correction put an end to this and i made sure i turned her in a circle again straight after to re-affirm my leadership.

You will notice that towards the end when two cars go past she attempts to take a step forward without me asking her to. So, i stop her and deliberately make her stand longer than i would do to make sure she understands i am in charge and only when i ask her to does she step forward. As soon as i let her know this you will see that her pace drops down to a very calm relaxed walk and when i circle her at the end (just before the yard) she obliges with no hesitance whatsoever. A brilliant end to a brilliant first hack on my own (well with luke trailing behind)

From start to finish, Spice was absolutely amazing. From catching her, to tacking her up, from lunging her to leading her out, to mounting her, to riding her back. Our best day so far in terms of obedience. I couldn't be happier.

And by the way the pot belly you see at the end of the video is the 10 week old baby growing inside me not fatness!




At approximetely 6.20 when Spice starts to make her protest at being turned in the opposite direction of the yard not only can you hear Mags (the other horse at the yard) calling to her but we were also just two minutes away from the yard so in view of this i can well understand why Spice protested. The fact that she backed down so quickly though was what i am most pleased about as ultimately she respected my request and did as i asked her to and that to me is a success.