I rode Maz bareback!!

On Friday Sophie messaged saying they’re on holiday right now, but if I wanted to I was welcome to go to their place and ride Maz, so long as an adult was with me!! Yay! I was so excited, because I thought I’d die of Maz-withdrawls before she got back hee hee! On Saturday I went to see Maz, and Dad and Daniel came with me. I made so many mistakes that day, I cringe remembering them all! Firstly I walked across the paddock at a march, hurridly clipped up the lead and got impatient when Maz kept stopping. I should’ve walked slowly and calming, introducing myself to their herd (Maz, Max, Ellie and Zion), and let Maz sniff my hand and say hello to him before clipping up his lead. When I led him across the paddock he kept stopping and refusing to move, and I feel so, so bad that I tapped his bum with the whip, because I should never resort to hitting him before thinking of other ways to get him to lead properly, and I’d already messed up the introduction too. Anyway, I got him to the gate and because he was in the back paddock, I had to lead him through the Contracting yards with trucks and cranes and stuff, but he kept refusing and backing up and it sort of scared me a little bit. Dad and Daniel kept saying ‘oh I don’t want you to get hurt’ and ‘put him back he doesn’t want to go’ so I put him away. It wasn’t my best work with him, but moving on. Later in the week I did some googling on how to improve horses’ groundwork and human groundwork, because truth to be told, I’m not always the best at leading, and neither is Maz! I was actually pretty excited to learn some things, of which I did! I found this channel on Youtube called Ryan Rose, who’s a problem-pony and wild-horse trainer in America, and although his methods are more for experienced horsepeople, some of it really helped! When Sophie gets back from her trip I’d really appreciate it if we could spend a lesson or half of one working on groundwork, because like I said, Maz stops when he feels like it, moves when he feels like it, and loves itching his head on you. For little wee me, having him throwing his enormous head around me is a little intimidating, despite the fact that people say ‘not to show fear’ around horses so they think they can scare you away.

ANYWAY, that turned into an extensive monologue, today Mum and Daniel came with me to try again. For some reason, every horse we come across is obsessed with mum! Rain, the quarter-horse mare who lives a few blocks away from us, likes me, but adores mum. She’s always snuffling Mum when we go out walking with our dog, Sushi. The ex-racehorses, Bandit, Sam and Millie, all love mum too, and Maz, Zion, Ellie and Max are no different. It was nice having her there and knowing Maz wasn’t afraid or sketchy about her.

Firstly, I walked slowly across the paddock, saying hello and keeping space from them. Then I walked up to Maz and held out my hand, of which he snuffled. He really wanted a head-itch (his favourite scratchy spot!) and let me know it with a vigorous nudge. I itched his face standing back from him, so he couldn’t bowl me over, and then calmly clipped up the lead. Mum and Daniel stood in the paddock close to the gate, so Maz had an insentive to walk to them, wheras on Saturday Dad and Daniel were outside the gate. Like all the other horses, Maz happily wandered over to say hello to Mum and Daniel. Then I took his bridle, which I had been carrying, and put that on too, making sure to keep my movements slow and calm. He almost fell asleep, most likely from Mum itching his face, haha, but it was nice for me to know he wasn’t going to bolt with half his bridle on! Then I took away the halter and put the lead on the bit for Daniel to hold. Mum gave me a leg up, and I’m quite chuffed to say I did it quite tidily! I gave Maz a pat, and Daniel led him for me. Mum walked with us too, which helped because I could feel Maz’s uncertainty. He kept throwing his head around and chomping on the bit, but after he’d gotten used to the bit in his mouth, he totally chilled out and was a superstar. Then Daniel took off the lead, and I walked Maz around. For some peculiar reason, Maz’s wither didn’t hurt at all like it did the last time I tried to ride him bareback. It was quite comfortable! I may not have been sitting high up enough on his withers, but he didn’t seem to mind 🙂 I knew getting him to trot was pointless, so I turned him in the direction of Mum and gave him a firm kick (I didn’t have a whip) and he eagerly trotted back to her. It worked that way for the whole half-hour ride, and he was great. Once I felt him prepare to rear, but I reassured him and he never did anything even slightly naughty ever again. On our last loop back to the fence where Mum and Daniel were, I squeezed a little harder, and he did some canter! It was only three or four strides, but they were clear, not jig-joggy, and very comfortable! I was on cloud nine! I thought cantering bareback would be really wobbly, but today it was super-smooth and easy to stay on. After that, I praised him, slipped off and took off his bridle, replacing it with his halter. His halter (which I bought, I’m proud to say!) has a nose guard on it, because he has a pink snip, and horses’ pink skin gets burned easily. Sometimes he wears sunscreen underneath the nose guard. I unclipped the lead with the halter still on, and let him loose. He was incredible today, and it was just what I needed after my kind of rattling session trying to lead him through the construction yard and up the hill.

Thank you so much to Sophie for the offer, and Maz for being great today! I realised I forgot a carrot, but he’s got so much grass a carrot might make him a bit fresh for next time 🙂 Thanks for reading, BYE!