Joyful rider

Last night I hurried over to Rachel's after work so I could get a quick riding lesson in before we went away this weekend. Sahil is feeling better and ready to work.

Usually he screams to me when he hears my car on the dirt road. He was pouting yesterday because he didn't get to go into the pasture with the other horses. Rachel kept him in the barn so it would not take me 30 minutes to tromp all over her 36 acres to find him. He refused to acknowledge me.

Once I got him out of his stall, he seemed to perk up a bit, nuzzling my arm. He softened up during his brushing then we took him to the arena to see if he needed to get some yah-yahs out before I rode him. It was very windy and that can make even the steadiest of horses jumpy. I led him in the arena and took off his lead rope. He followed me as I walked to the center of the arena, he head low and relaxed. He didn't really want to run away. I picked up the whip and urged him to go in a circle around me. This would have been the perfect time for him to run away, there was nothing retraining him. He trotted a beautiful circle around me and came in for a pat when I asked him to.

Rachel laughed and declared that it was time to ride because Sahil was ready to work and had no interest in being silly. He just wanted to spend time with his momma.

I saddled him up and got on. Rachel attached a lunge line to us so she could have some control if things got crazy. Her goal was to have us trot together. Frankly, that made me nervous because of the wind and past experience I have had with not so balanced horses. But, I trust her and was getting to trust Sahil so I did what she asked. We trotted fine. In fact we did so well that she took the line off and we did it together on our own. I was thrilled, joyful and confident that Sahil and I will be wonderful partners in the future.

Next month Rachel says we will be trail riding. I believe her. Sahil is ready for the next adventure with momma.

Check out Rachel's website at www.joyfulhorse.com.