17 Days Until Our First Ride Countdown

 Okay, my first question is from Judi at Trail Horse Adventures (I LOVE her new horse Cole!!) and she asked, "Have you ever done a "first" ride before?"  I can't remember for sure but I think the answer is no.  I used to ride horses for other people (problem horses, exercise, trail experience, etc.), but I don't remember if all of them had riders on them before me.  There might have been one or two, but it wasn't anything special to me because it was a job.

When I was twelve my dad bought us another horse (I'm a twin and her horse died of colic so we only had one and we were sharing mine).  She was a chestnut Quarter horse named Lightning and she was pregnant.  She had a filly that we named Cloud.

 

 A picture of Cloud at three years old.  

Sadly most of my pictures of her are film and 

I don't have a scanner so this one will have to do.

Cloud was the only foal I'd ever been around and we couldn't even touch her for the first year of her life (well except for when she was cornered in a barn for vaccinations and hoof care).  We eventually gained her trust and could do anything with her, including ride her.  She was such an awesome horse.  I didn't get the first ride on her though because a friend (who was a lot shorter and smaller than we were) rode her for her first four or five rides.  She was visiting her grandparents (our neighbor) for the summer and was totally fearless and asked if she could ride Cloud.  We let her.  Cloud was perfect.  :) 

My first ride on Cloud was not that perfect lol.  My friend rode her bareback, but I had her saddled for my first ride.  Thinking back I realize now that was probably the first time she'd worn a saddle, so it's no wonder she reacted the way she did!!  My dad had her on a lead rope so she couldn't take off and I climbed on.  She walked fine at first and then started jumping around so I jumped off.  The second time she started actually bucking and I came off.  After that my dad started riding her.  He weighed a LOT more than I did (6'4" tall, which is why I'm now 5'11" lol) so she didn't really give him a hard time.  To this day I can't remember if I ever rode her again.

So for all intents and purposes Chrome is the first horse I've raised from a weanling up through riding for the first time.  That's why I'm excited AND nervous!  I've done a LOT more work with him than ever went into Cloud's education (because I didn't know any better and Dad worked a lot), so I'm sure it will go a lot more smoothly with him lol.  That's why everything with him is so new and exciting.  I feel like I've learned a lot and accomplished a lot with him.  Sure I've made my share of mistakes, but you have to learn somehow and I try my hardest to do what is best for him.  Great question Judi!  I'm sure that will give everyone a better idea of why I'm so excited, yet nervous as well about our first ride.  :D

 So anyway here are some more baby pictures for your enjoyment!  Looking forward to answering more questions.  :D

 

 

 

This last one is the only three month old picture I have of him I think.